The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #68096   Message #1144045
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
23-Mar-04 - 02:00 PM
Thread Name: 60 Minutes tonight (21-Mar-04)
Subject: RE: 60 Minutes tonight (21-Mar-04)
"Factually correct" - the way Clinton was "factually correct" with his "I did not have 'sexual relations' with that woman", and his quibbles about what "is" means. Avoiding the lie direct is the easiest trick in the book - which is presumably what Carter had in mind when he chose to use the wider expression "lies and misinterpretations".

The important thing to keep in mind when listening to someone you have reason to distrust is not "is this person lying to me?", but rather "what is the truth; what does this person want me to believe; and how do those two differ?" Whether the deception involves a lie direct or not is just a matter of technique, not of morality.

William Blake cut to the heart of this kind of thing:

A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.