The difference between a newspaper column and a social media post is that one takes some time to work on a column idea, even when enraged, to make sure the point is valid and the rage is justified. Not so, social media. This column has simmered on a back burner for a few weeks now. Still, the issue it addresses, prevarication, is something that sticks in my craw.
Prevarication doesn’t necessarily involve outright lying. Instead, it uses ambiguity, misdirection, or half-truths to mislead or conceal the truth. What I call BS. Not a straight-out lie, but a circuitous route around the truth to hide mistakes, carelessness, ignorance, or guilt. Someone who prevaricates is trying to avoid being caught in a lie.
In decades of adulthood, I’ve encountered more than my share of prevaricators. The ones who were going to pay me on Friday, deliver something on time, make the repairs when promised, and so many other things. As a part-time county chronicler, I’m used to elected officials and bureaucrats covering up the truth. I also hear from people that certain stories, which paint a local poobah in a less-than-flattering light, are best left unpublished.
We’ve all lied. “No, that dress doesn’t make you look fat.” “I love your mother.” “We must get together soon.” But some people have become maestros of the art.
A few years back, I wrote about our purchase of a new stove that involved a series of promises made, not kept. After months of excuses, we eventually had a firm date for the delivery of the stove promised. It didn’t show up. The proprietor of the appliance store, when contacted since he didn’t call us, said that the semi truck delivering appliances up the shore had gone off the road. He added, “Believe it or not, the only appliance that got damaged was your new stove, so we have to reorder.”
As this column was germinating a couple of weeks ago, I encountered another maestro of prevarication. I’m a pretty tolerant guy, but when the issue is money, I turn intolerant of evasion and vagueness. I demand the truth.
My old friend Art used to say, “Don’t pee down my neck and tell me it’s raining.”
Lying is inherently wrong because it erodes trust and can cause harm. Yet the specific context and consequences of the lie are critical in determining how bad it is. Some of the most likable people I know won’t ever tell the truth, as if a lie fits them better. Hell, I was a salesguy for years. Forty-some years ago, a friend’s dad said to me, “Fernlund, if BS were music, you’d be a brass band.” Some BS greases the skids and makes life less bitter.
Politicians, by their nature, seem to always fall back on prevarication.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Soviet and Russian author and dissident. He wrote, referring to the communist regime in Russia, “We know they are lying, They know they are lying, They know we know they are lying, We know they know we know they are lying, But they are still lying.” That quote is relevant today.
Lying, or almost lying, breaks down the trust that is essential for all human interactions, especially in government, business, and economic transactions.
A local example may be in order. Earlier this summer, four officials in the Cook County Public Health and Human Services Department were all “out of the office.” On August 12, the county board was advised of three resignations and one termination affecting those four people.
The Cook County Attorney, Jeanne Peterson, told a reporter at Grand Marais radio station WTIP, “that the staffing changes come on the heels of a series of complaints filed against supervisors within the department in April and June, and subsequent investigations into those complaints.” The Cook County Attorney, Jeanne Peterson,
All of the parties involved in this, including former county employees and the elected county attorney, have an obligation to truthfully inform the public about those complaints. Were they harassment claims? Financial shenanigans? Morality failings? Did they involve members of the public whose interests are protected from disclosure by federal or state law? Or are they just trying to cover up oversight mistakes, carelessness, ignorance, or guilt?
Mark Twain often said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” With the rising level of distrust in government, a breath of fresh air, the truth, could go a long way.
As individuals, we have the power to combat prevarication. We can demand transparency and honesty from our leaders and institutions. We can choose to speak the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Solzhenitsyn said it best: “The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie.”
