For today's research, I looked at some of the biggest and most disastrous lies in the history of man-kind. The ramifications of these lies are unmatched. Some of these examples that I am going to share with your are blatant, slap you in the face type of lies, while some of the others fall more along the lines of deceit. A very fine line separates the two of those, so fine that I am considering them the same for the sake of my blog. Here we go...
1. This is one of those that falls more along the lines of deceit, and it just so happens to fit right in with one of our areas of study in English this semester. The Trojan Horse. How the Trojans did not see that one coming is beyond me. After ten years of a brutal war, the Greeks trick the Trojans into thinking that they was thrown in the towel, and give them a giant wooden horse as a piece offering, that's what you do when you surrender, right? No. Greeks hiding in the giant horse come out while the city is asleep, open the gates, and the Greeks continue to kill the entire population of Troy. Foreseeable? I Would think so, but devious nonetheless, and this lie resulted in the devastation of a city and the death of a countless number of men, women, and children.
2. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you."
Sure Bill...
The famous Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair is perhaps one of the biggest scandals the presidency has encountered. As noted in the quote posted above, Clinton clearly states that he did not have any type of affair with Lewinsky. Well this turned out to exactly what he said it wasn't, a lie. Because of all this, he was tried on obstruction of justice and perjury, and was lucky he was not impeached. His reputation however, was tarnished forever.
3. The reason I said that the previous example was one of the biggest scandals in the presidency is because the Watergate scandal is the obvious #1...
Some important people close to Nixon had given orders to have crooks break into the democratic national committee and wiretap the building, you know, James Bond type stuff. After the goons got caught, Nixon denied that he had any part of the scheme, but after some recorded conversations that took place in the White House, the supreme court was able to garner enough evidence to convict Nixon. This ruined Nixon's political career, and he decided to "go out on his own terms' (not really). He became the first and only president to resign from the president.
There are many examples of monumental lies like these that have shaped history in one way or another. One thing that I find interesting to think about is that these probably aren't some of the biggest lies, because the biggest and best lies have not been uncovered yet....
"A lie is just a great story that someone ruined with the truth." - Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother
You know, basically every military strategy is a Trojan horse technique even today: distract your enemy while you sneak up to them when they aren't looking. It's amazing that is still works. Watergate and Clinton are interesting examples because in both cases the lie wasn't about an initial crime: Nixon did not order the burglary, and Clinton wasn't guilty of any crime for having an affair. However, they both got into trouble for covering up, lying about the initial act. That seems a particularly modern way to lie, to me. Lying about the lie.
ReplyDeleteHarrison,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you make sarcastic comments such as "sure bill...", and when you talk about the Trojan war. Your blog posts are always fun to read, and each time I read them I always learn something out of them.
I really enjoyed reading this blog. I was fascinated by the first blog you put up and was very interested to read this blog with research. I really enjoyed how you used specific examples of famous people who lied about particular things/events. I never really thought of the Trojan horse as a lie but now that you mentioned it i can see how one could see it as a lie. I also enjoyed the modern examples with Nixon and Clinton. It is interesting to see lies that have been told in the modern day and see lies in the far past. I think it is unsettling to know that many lies are still out there and have not been yet uncovered by truth.
ReplyDeleteDang Harry... Your blogs just continue to get more interesting. I obviously know about all three of those events, but the way you described them was very fascinating to read and really grabbed the attention of your audience. Great job. The short choppy, sassy sentences was also a nice touch.
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