Political Lies and Their Impact
3 min Machine translated About Mexico
Politicians lie, like when they don't know their campaign promises.
Are you keeping your campaign promise not to use fracking in, uh, natural gas extraction?
I never said that during the campaign, exactly.
Hydrocarbon extraction using fracking will not be allowed at all.
Or when they say that a problem has already been solved and then it turns out it hasn't.
We've already solved the problem of the supply of medicines.
No one has said we're at one hundred percent.
Or now, with the Guadalupe Taddei scandal.
López Obrador, Sheinbaum, Morena, and their allies empowered her.
She's an experienced woman. Look at her caaareer.
She has, uh, professionalism, she's honest, she's a woman of integrity.
In April 2023, Sheinbaum said that today, the president of the INE is an honest woman. who will defend our country's democracy.
In 2024, Morena and its allies passed the Taddei law, a reform that gave her more power than any other presiding councilor.
The INE at your feet, madam. But after the scandal and her resignation, Sheinbaum is trying to distance herself.
Because now there's a campaign claiming Taddei was with Morena.
Why do politicians lie? Lisa Wedeen, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, has a theory.
It doesn't matter if people don't believe the lies, what matters is that they act as if they believe them. That's enough, because a lie, even if it doesn't deceive, has political effects.
It's a way of creating power. First, because repeating or defending a lie means subordinating one's own judgment to the word of the powerful.
The more absurd the lie, greater proof of loyalty than he demands.
Second, because insisting on a lie once it has been disproven is a show of strength, of impunity.
The message is that you can keep knowingly lying, without correcting yourself, and nothing happens.
Third, because upholding a lie turns a dispute about facts into a dispute between opposing camps.
We defend our own even when they tell falsehoods, and attack the others even when they have evidence.
The lie thus becomes a matter of political identity.
Fourth, because it is a way to intimidate.
Anyone who exposes the lies of those in power has to watch out for their attacks and smears.
They learn that speaking can be more dangerous than staying silent.
The lie raises the cost of revealing the truth.
And fifth, because the lie serves to evade.
If power can rewrite history, it can also erase its responsibility for it.
Decisions have consequences, but lies help us avoid taking responsibility for them.
In short, lies can create power, even when they fail to deceive, because they don't seek to make us give up on the truth.
They aim to make us accustomed to the idea that knowing it is useless.
End of transcript · 467 words · machine translated
Original transcript (Spanish)
Los políticos mienten, como cuando desconocen sus compromisos electorales.
¿Se cumple su promesa de campaña de la no utilización del fracking en, eh, la extracción del gas natural?
Nunca lo dije en campaña como tal. No se va a permitir la explotación de hidrocarburos a partir del fracking.
O cuando dicen que un problema ya está resuelto y luego resulta que siempre no.
Ya resolvimos el problema de el abasto de los medicamentos.
Nadie ha dicho que estamos al cien por ciento.
O como ahora, con el escándalo de Guadalupe Taddei.
López Obrador, Sheinbaum, Morena y sus aliados la empoderaron.
Es una mujer experimentada. Vean suuu trayectoria.
Tiene, eh, profesionalismo, es honesta, es una mujer íntegra.
En abril de 2023, Sheinbaum dijo que hoy la presidenta del INE es una mujer honesta que va a defender la democracia de nuestro país.
En 2024, Morena y sus aliados aprobaron la ley Taddei, una reforma que le dio más poder que a ningún otro consejero presidente.
El INE a sus pies, madame. Pero tras el escándalo y su renuncia, Sheinbaum intenta deslindarse.
Porque ahora hay una campaña de que Taddei era de Morena.
¿Por qué mienten los políticos? Lisa Wedeen, politóloga de la Universidad de Chicago, tiene una teoría.
No importa que la gente no crea las mentiras, lo que importa es que actúe como si las creyera. Con eso basta, porque la mentira, aunque no engañe, tiene efectos políticos.
Es una manera de crear poder. Primero, porque repetir o defender una mentira supone subordinar el juicio propio a la palabra del poderoso.
Entre más absurda la mentira, mayor la demostración de lealtad que demanda.
Segundo, porque insistir en una mentira una vez que ha sido refutada es una exhibición de fuerza, de impunidad.
El mensaje es que se puede seguir mintiendo a sabiendas, sin rectificar y no pasa nada.
Tercero, porque sostener una mentira convierte una disputa sobre hechos en una entre bandos.
A los nuestros los defendemos aunque digan falsedades, a los otros los atacamos aunque tengan evidencia.
La mentira se vuelve así una cuestión de identidad política.
Cuarto, porque es una forma de amedrentar.
Quien exhibe las mentiras del poder tiene que cuidarse de sus ataques y descalificaciones.
Aprende que hablar puede ser más peligroso que callarse.
La mentira eleva el costo de revelar la verdad.
Y quinto, porque la mentira sirve para evadir.
Si el poder puede reescribir la historia, también puede borrar su responsabilidad en ella.
Las decisiones tienen consecuencias, pero la mentira ayuda a no hacerse cargo de ellas.
En suma, la mentira puede crear poder, incluso cuando fracasa como engaño, porque no busca que renunciemos a la verdad.
Pretende acostumbrarnos a que saberla no sirva de nada.
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