Hi Ranty Nation!  Ranty McRantyson har agin!

Well, har we are already wit a “bonus round” of how “Liars Lie witout Lying“.  Ah thunk y’all’ll understand that we’all’ve seen this fur quite sum time, but it’s bin kicked into “overdrive” over the last few years in the Conservative “newsosphere”.  Ugh!  They’s jus too many ways fur folks to “lie witout lyin”!

Anyhoo, this bonus round way of lying is a version of lying wit the truth.  The differnce tween this’n an whut we talked bout in Part 3rd is those tellin the “truth” know it’s a lie.

“Circular Fact” Way of Creatin “Truths”

While ah’m callin this the “circular facts” way of lyin witout lyin, it’s also known by other sayins.  Y’all might of heard bout “echo chambers”, “blogospheres”, etc.  They’s the same thang.  Ah’m jus using the sayin “circular facts” to show how how a lie changes into a “truth”.

How Circular Fact Lying Wurks

It goes sumthin like this:

1. Some nobody site (or disreputable site) will say sumthin like “Joe Biden Forces White House Chefs to Prepare Him a Special Diet of Babies for EVERY MEAL”!
2. Anuther slightly more “reputable” site (like a tabloid) will pick up that “story” an will report it like it was one of their more “serious” articles (let’s say the UK’s “The Daily Mail”).  By “serious” ah mean, it ain’t wrote like it dun be obviously a buncha bulloney.
3. Next, yet anuther slightly more reputable site (say a minor news outlet or “authority figure”) will repeat it citing the (semi-reputable, see #2 above) web site.  Now, the original lie has become almost “main stream”.
4. Finally, a “main stream” news outlet (e.g. Fox News) to bring on an “expert” who confidently repeats the lie… but now it’s a “truth”, cuz the Fox’ll say their “researchers” have “verified” it wuz said.

More often than not, the main stream news source’ll git an “expert” who’ll use a “reference to authority” by citing the minor news outlet/authority figure.  An they’all’ll make y’all thunk they’s talkin bout sumone who’s reliable-like.

Finishin the Circular Fact Trail

Course, to complete the “circular fact” trail, the original, nobody/disreputable site’ll publish anuther story sayin somethin like, “Y’see?  We’all reported this earlier an [insert mainstream media company here] has confirmed that we were correct!”  Now the lie’s come full circle.  An the original liar will actually git a better reputation after this process is done.  So they’s almost no downside fur them to do this.

After awhile, the number of both lying liars an “dupes” (folks fooled into thunkin it’s the “truth”) will be so many that folk’ll thunk, “Gee, ah’m hearin this frum everone.  It’s gotta be true, right?”

Plausible Deniability

It was back in the 1980s when ah furst heard the term, “plausible deniability“, durin the “Iran-Conta Affair”.  Most folk at the time believed they wasn’t any way that at least VP George H.W. Bush didn’t know about the “Contra funding for guns to Iran” deal tween the US, Iran, and the Contras in Nicaragua.  An since Lt. Colonel Oliver North frequently met with both Pres Reagan an VP Bush, it seemed likely they both knew whut was goin on.

At least back then, they’s tried to put sum “lipstick on the pig” (y’know, it may have lipstick an look purtier, but it’s still a pig).  Nowadays, most folk don’t even try to dress up whut they’s doin.  Pres Trump’s a gud example.  All the time he was sayin, “Sum folk say…” an then tell his lie.  Then when he wuz called out on it, he’d say, “Ah’m not sayin it, ah jus said that sum other people’re sayin it an want to know the ‘truth’!”

Wit all this goin on an folk bein too lazy to try to track down whut really happened, too many lies git spread round til most folk thunk they’s the “truth”.  The plain fact of the matter’s that it’s still lying, no matter how many folk be tellin the lie.

The Bottom Line (Circular Fact Lying Edition)

This whole “circular truth” way of lyin is durned hard to beat.  Unfurtunately, it take sum “common sense” to figure it out an most folk don’t wanna wurk that hard.

Y’all’ve probly hurd it also called an “echo chamber”, cuz that’s part of whut makes it wurk.  Jus like wit an echo, one person tellin the right lie, it’ll git echoed round an round.  Then those echos git echoed an purty soon folk’ll start hearin it frum so many folk they’all begin to thunk it’s gotta be true.  That’s how “propaganda” wurks.

Har’s a clue to spottin it.  If’n everone in a certain group starts sayin the same thang bout the same time, specially witout much proof, then y’all can be purty shure it’s sum echo chamber, circular fact propaganda.

On to Other Topics

Well, ah be basically dun wit this series on Lyin Witout Lyin.  Course, ah imagine ah’ll find new ways them politicritters use to lie to “We, the People”.  An y’all know ah’ll try to let y’all know as soon as ah find them.  But whut ah’ve pointed out in this series shud go a long way to “vaccinatin” y’all aginst believin “liars lyin witout lyin”.

Ah look furward to talkin bout some of the many thangs that ah’ve bin missin over the couple weeks as ah’ve bin finishin up this series.

Ranty McRantyson signin off!