Truth and Lies

Graham Watson Former President

Closing Keynote Address delivered via video link at Day One (12 November) of the 14th CALD General Assembly held in Iloilo City, Philippines

The first thing to be said about disinformation is that it’s nothing new. People have told lies and half-truths for political purposes since time immemorial. But this practice has now begun to threaten the future of democracy—as we saw in the United States this week when Republicans argued again that Joe Biden stole his election and that he was not legitimately elected President. And it is even beginning to threaten life on earth.

World leaders are meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, and one of the challenges they face is widespread denial of damaging actions contributing to climate change. The Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle told us that “a lie cannot live”; perhaps he just didn’t know how to tell them.

Because the second thing to assert about disinformation is that sadly, a lie can live for quite a long time and it can do a lot of damage.

What Carlyle meant of course is that a lie cannot live in the face of truth. We liberal democrats have a great task in marshaling and presenting the truth. But hear a word of warning: If I may, truth suffers less from understatement than from exaggeration. Do not fall into the trap of the enemies of truth. Just tell people the facts, plain and simple. Trust the people to distinguish. Normally, liars will do themselves more damage than anything we could throw at them.

Third, be alert. “A lie is halfway around the world before the policeman has its boots on,” U.S. novelist Mark Twain, is said to have written, although that assertion itself may not be true. Certainly, though, the quote is at least 100 years old and created long before the age of electronic media. Among other things, it tells us that we need more, and smarter, policemen. In the United Kingdom, at the time of the Brexit referendum, we saw the establishment of an organization called Full Fact. Full Fact is run mainly by volunteers and funded mainly by crowdfunding. It takes claims made by politicians, journalists, and others in positions of power, both in government and in opposition. And it explains through its website and through its electronic newsletters, what, if any truth, lies behind those claims. It is a reaction of course dealing with lies already spreading, but it is a nonetheless useful resource for those seeking to establish and search for the truth.

And finally, get smart. If algorithms can be used to deny or distort the truth, they can also be used to spread the truth. We need to modernize our campaigning methods. Liberals are not always the best for this. Our opponents tend to have more money and more vitriol. But if we put our minds to the tasks, if we bring together the bricks of effort and the mortar of persistence, we can and we will prevail.