The Ignoble Lie Victor Davis Hanso| Posted: Oct 28, 2021
A majestic fiction, he says, could sometimes serve society by persuading uninformed citizens of something good for them.
Ever since, many prevaricators have used the excuse that they lied for the common good.
Take Dr. Anthony Fauci, our point man on the COVID-19 epidemic.
Fauci misled the country about mask-wearing during the pandemic by claiming they were of little use. But he argued that he lied so the public would not make a run on masks, deplete the supply, and thus rob medical professionals of protective equipment.
Fauci also told "noble" lies about the likely percentage of the public needing to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. He kept raising the bar -- from 60 percent to 70 percent to 75 percent to 80 percent, to 85 percent.
Apparently, Fauci feared a lower figure, even if accurate, might lull people into complacency about getting inoculated.
Fauci also lied about his own role in routing U.S. aid money to subsidize gain-of-function viral research at the Wuhan virology lab -- the likely birthplace of COVID-19.
Either Fauci was hiding his own culpability, or he believed the American people might not be able to fully accept that some of their own health officials were promoting the sort of research that was partially responsible for more than 700,000 American deaths.
In truth, in most cases there was nothing noble at all in their lying. They simply spread untruths to protect their own endangered careers by masking their own wrongdoing or fobbing it onto others.
In other words, "noble lies" are rarely spun for anyone's interests other than those of the liars themselves.
In other words, "noble lies" are rarely spun for anyone's interests other than those of the liars themselves.
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