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THE REBIRTH OF LYING

Today’s reading is from The Decay of Lying, by Oscar Wilde:

Cyril: What is the subject?

Vivian: I intend to call it 'The Decay of Lying: A Protest.'

Cyril: Lying! I should have thought that our politicians kept up that habit.

Vivian: I assure you that they do not. They never rise beyond the level of misrepresentation, and actually condescend to prove, to discuss, to argue. How different from the temper of the true liar, with his frank, fearless statements, his superb irresponsibility, his healthy, natural disdain of proof of any kind! After all, what is a fine lie? Simply that which is its own evidence. If a man is sufficiently unimaginative to produce evidence in support of a lie, he might just as well speak the truth at once.


Who knew that Dick Cheney was a devotee of the great Oscar? To boldly lie in the face of stacks of contravening (or at best no supporting) evidence -- Saddam’s WMD, the connection between the Baathists and al Qaeda, the Swift Boat Veterans Who Contradict Themselves (like Walt Whitman, they are large, they contain multitudes), and, most recently, the assertion that the terrorists will attack if we elect John Kerry. That Dick, he’s such a Wilde thing.