Lewandowski, the media, and the truth

[_ldsfaqs]

You are a terrible human being. Your lack of sound ethics makes you the tool of despots and tyrants. That's all there is to say about it.

Nope... You can keep believing your BS, but it's not the truth. Good people are truth tellers.

See, you can't even tell the truth about someone in just a few words online. So who are YOU being the arbitor of truth and right?

Further, let's examine your claim. "Who" are the "despots and tyrants".

- It's not the right trying to remove free speech
- It's not the right restricting banning speech on social media
- It's not the right banning foods.
- It's not the right banning the right to self-defense
- It's not the right who wants to grow government more and more and more taking by force a persons work.

on and on...

LOL... The Right or "me" aren't the "tools" of despots and tyrants. You are. You embrace Fascism/Communism/Socialism... Those ideologies are the ideologies and systems of despots and Tyrants. My side is Capitalism, Conservatism, Libertarianism, and Anarchy. Those are not ideology's of despots and tyrants.

Seriously, get a clue...

And my ethics are absolute. You don't know me. Your warped fantasy of your own mind is not me or my ethics.

[_canpakes]

I'll take good people sometimes being strategic with the truth as might be necessary ... I have absolutely no qualms about that ...

Shorter faqs:

“I condone lying and will engage in it to serve my own agenda”

There you have it, folks.

.. my ethics are absolute.

Yes, absolutely corrupted.

You don't know me.

You’ve told us all that we need to know.

[_subgenius]

1. His "obligation" to be honest is predicated on his perception of the media. He feels no personal obligation to be honest for the sake of being honest.

Not accurate, he also stated "when under oath, I’ve always told the truth". His "obligation" was specific to the media and was offered in retort. Your attempt to extrapolate this retort into a larger character policy is (ironically) dishonest.

2. Do you believe the reason Lewandowski lied is because he thinks the media lied? Or is the reason that he simply did not want to tell the truth, because the truth would have made the President uncomfortable?

I think its reasonable to conclude that his "obligation" is a convenience given the known character of the modern day media....I mean, if we are going to cast general character conclusions about.

3. If Lewandowski feels that he has no obligation to tell the truth to the media, does he not understand that he is then lying to the American People?

That is a myth. The "media" does not equal American People. So, while many people in America may rely on many various "media" for information - we also must believe that the media have misled and lied (on occasion) to the American people...which creates a bit of a paradox with your assumption.

Does he not understand that lying to the media is lying to the American People? How do we trust any statement he makes to the media?

So when Dan Rather or the NYT fabricates "news" from whole cloth, then what?

Again we return to Res Ipsa's tag line, which becomes more important as the thinking behind the Trump administration reveals itself:

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”

Are you proposing that such a distinction no longer exists? heck, even Cory is making a blatant distinction between the 2 in your OP.
Me thinks a bit of chicken little has you by the tongue.

If someone would like to defend the idea that a person has no obligation to tell the truth when talking with the American People, I'm all ears...

Again, you are erroneously, and thus far without foundation, substituting "nedia" with American People...which is ironically the type of "blurring" that Arendt is speaking to.
Nevertheless, no one has any obligation to be honest with any media at any time...just look at most reporters today.

[_Gunnar]

. . .The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."

That sure describes what is happening with Trump's base day by day. It is tragic how readily they allow themselves to be deceived.

[_Gunnar]

Nevertheless, no one has any obligation to be honest with any media at any time...just look at most reporters today.

Nonsense! This is a morally bankrupt attitude. Those who would be our political leaders have, or ought to have, a particularly strong obligation to be honest with the media. It is particularly nonsensical of you or anyone to deny that being dishonest with the media is equivalent to being dishonest with the people, because the people are necessarily dependent on the media for keeping up with what is going on in the world.

[_honorentheos]

Good people are truth tellers.

While I don't know if that is a universal truth, I'd agree a person is generally better for having been told the truth even if it isn't one they particularly want to hear. Even better is the person who is able to tell themselves the truth.

Speaking of.

Here's my comment again -

faqs, do you realize you just stated your ethics is based on party allegiance? That you determine right and wrong in the most broken, unethical manner imaginable that has been behind some of the greatest atrocities of the last century?

Your response has been -

"Who" are the "despots and tyrants".

- It's not the right trying to remove free speech
- It's not the right restricting banning speech on social media
- It's not the right banning foods.
- It's not the right banning the right to self-defense
- It's not the right who wants to grow government more and more and more taking by force a persons work.

on and on...

LOL... The Right or "me" aren't the "tools" of despots and tyrants. You are. You embrace Fascism/Communism/Socialism... Those ideologies are the ideologies and systems of despots and Tyrants. My side is Capitalism, Conservatism, Libertarianism, and Anarchy. Those are not ideology's of despots and tyrants.

Notice how your definitions for right v. wrong are simply political? It's left versus right. The right is good. The left is bad. That's you doing the talking. It's your ethical system that you are putting on display. Now, you might argue I'm missing your belief it's what the left consistently does that makes them wrong and the right, well, right. But that is immaterial given you never demonstrate that you actually hold a more fundamental belief. The shorthand version of your view is all you put on display here. Hence, why we have you defending lying.

[_Bret Ripley]

I'll take good people sometimes being strategic with the truth as might be necessary ... I have absolutely no qualms about that ...

Shorter faqs:

“I condone lying and will engage in it to serve my own agenda”

There you have it, folks.

He didn't say say it's OK to lie, he said it was OK to be strategic with the truth. All is doubleplusgood, citizen.

And as a reminder: we are not in a trade war with China, it's a trade police action.

[_Some Schmo]

Has faqs been away so long you've all forgotten what he's like?

Of course he's full of crap. Of course he has no idea what he's talking about. Of course he's a terrible person. And of course he writes like he's suffered blunt force trauma to the head on several occasions.

Man... short memories around here.

[_Gunnar]

It's sad but true, as demonstrated in almost every thread faqs has anything to do with, nothing or no one ultimately damages ldsfaqs' own credibility and veracity than ldsfaqs himself. He will almost certainly remain forever clueless about that fact. That is the sad part

[_Maksutov]

Has faqs been away so long you've all forgotten what he's like?

Of course he's full of ____. Of course he has no idea what he's talking about. Of course he's a terrible person. And of course he writes like he's suffered blunt force trauma to the head on several occasions.

Man... short memories around here.

Hey, I remember his sponge on a stick.