Does a lie repeated a thousand times become the truth?

The issue of truth and lies is more complex than it may seem at first glance. What people accept as truth depends on many factors. There is a truth scientific, but also a philosophical, religious, personal, ideological, etc..

Not all of these “truths” have the same degree of validity. In science For example, something cannot be postulated as true if there is no physical or theoretical evidence that it is so.. Something similar happens in philosophy. However, this does not apply to the other fields. In those areas, such as ideology or religion, something is true if an authority figure says it. It doesn’t matter that I’m unable to prove it.

Between an unproven truth and a lie sometimes there is no great distance. Despite this, many people are not interested. In fact, are willing to believe even against all evidence. This happens because sometimes lies are comforting, while the truth is disturbing.. It is because there are fears or guilt involved. Also because lies are usually easier to understand than the truth.

This reality opens a crack that many have thoroughly exploited. In many cases it is enough to tell people what they want to hear, because we all want to believe those messages that we like regardless of their parallelism with reality. But not only that. They also manage to establish a falsehood culturally and socially. Likewise, many are capable of anything to support that lie. They do not realize, or do not want to see, that this does not benefit them but those who direct them.

The power and the lie

Attributed to Joseph Goebbels The phrase “a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth”. There is no certain evidence that she was the author of it, but it is definitely a good summary of what this propagandist did during World War II. His work was so effective that even today there are those who still defend the “truths” of the Third Reich.

Goebbels’ work was so successful that it can be said that his mechanisms have been repeatedly copied by many world leaders. Powerful sectors continue to consciously use lies as a means to manipulate the minds of the people they want to influence and thus get them to accept the unacceptable and support plans that follow the interest of a few.

The great sectors of power realized, thanks to the Nazi experience, that societies were capable of believing in any message if it was presented in the appropriate way. It was only necessary to exercise absolute control over the social media and all those institutions that transmitted ideology, including the school.. It was enough for her to delve into fears, hatreds and insecurities. Then construct a convenient “truth” and repeat it ad nauseam.

The lie that is repeated a thousand times

The thing about repetition is that it generates very deep beliefs. When the brain grasps a new situation, there is an imbalance, which is followed by assimilation, accommodation, and then adaptation. Like when we arrive to a city that we don’t know and at first we feel out of place, but little by little, from seeing the same places so much, we become familiar until we appropriate the new environment. In fact, we are making a kind of map of our own based on what we know.

Something similar happens with repeated lying. The mind adapts to listen to it, to perceive it and ends up incorporating it into its sphere of thought.. It is the familiar, the known, what everyone affirms. In the case of the big lies of power, it is also the response to fear or insecurity. Or the understandable explanation of what is ignored or not understood.

It is not without reason that there is such a close relationship between power and the media. Traditionally, in almost all countries it is the large economic or political groups that control the press. Until recently, independent media was an exotic flower. With the emergence of social networks this has changed. Independent voices have multiplied and the alternatives to inform us have expanded.

However, the networks have also come up with their own lies. Finally, it does not matter through what medium a content is transmitted, but rather from what intention it is narrated and commented on. Also, and above all, it matters how interested the recipient is in what is true. “There is no worse blind man than he who does not want to see” goes the popular adage. And this always works in the field of truth and social lies.

Just a rumor is enough…

Sometimes, It is not necessary to repeat a lie a thousand times for it to become true, just spread a rumor.. But what is a rumor? A very accurate definition was the one offered by Allport and Postman in 1987. They define rumor as “an error, distortion or misrepresentation of the truth or reality. Important but ambiguous information. “Product of memory problems or a form of mental and emotional projection, if not a direct intention to lie and manipulate, as in the case of political war propaganda and rumors created expressly.”.

The power of rumors can be devastating. It is enough to invent some information about someone or some entity and let it circulate. Soon there will be people who believe, without evidence, the veracity of the information. Others will look for evidence. However, the power of rumor, In many cases it does not lie only in the information itself, but in the doubt that is generated around someone.

Knapp (1944) states that a rumor “It contains certain information about an event or person, about something that is happening and it is important for the population to know at that time”. This definition offers part of the key to why we participate in the spread of a rumor. And it is that There is a certain need in us to communicate what we consider important and others should know..

Another important aspect is that we are somewhat morbid in transmitting shocking information. However, before speaking, perhaps it is better to think if what we are saying is true, because we could be simple tools to spread a false rumor.

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