8/13/2019 "The Political Function of the Modern Lie" (Contemporary Jewish Record, Vol. VIII, 1945)

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VOLUME VIII - 1945 .

THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE

N E W YORK N Y

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8/13/2019 "The Political Function of the Modern Lie" (Contemporary Jewish Record, Vol. VIII, 1945)

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fhe Political Function of

the Modern LieALEXANDRE KOYRE

N EVER has there been so much l y i ~ gas in our. day. Neve r has

lying been so shameless, so systematic, so unceasing., It -may be objected that the lie is as_ old as 'the world itself, or at leastas old as man himself, a n ~ e n d xab initio. Also, the political lie cameinto existence together with the city, as history amply demonstrates;

'-Finally, there is no need to dig deep into the past:_ thebuncombe of the'First World War and the electoral chicanery that followed it toucheddepths and set records. hard to surpass. ' ~

Certainly, man is defined by his faculty of speech, inher:ent in whichis ~ h epossibility of the He; n d ~ w i t hapologies to Porphyry-it is thelie,' much more than the laugh, that characterizes man.' Certainly, also,the political lie belongs to all ages:_ thousands of years ago the rules :

d h . f d k . . dn tee nique o emagogy, nown to our time as propagan a, weresystematized and codified. 1 Today from the high walls of Kamak, fromthe rocks of Ankara, the creations of these techniques; the propagandaof' forgotten empires long crumbled into dust still speak to us.- .

That nian has always lied, to himself and to others, is indisputable.

He has lied for the sheer fun of it-the fun of exercising this astoundinggift of being able to say what is not so, creating by- his word a world- -for which he alone is responsible. Also, he has lied. in self-defense: the lie is a weapon. - It is the_ preferred weapon of the- underdog and theweakling. . _ . ' . - :

However, it is not our intention at this point to go into the p h e n o m e ~nology of the He. Right n ow we wan t to concern ourselves with thecontemporary lie, and even more strictly, with the contemporary politicall i e ~We remain convinced that in this sphere _ quo nihil antiquius, the