Political discourse consists of scripted, symbolic speech acts. The ends justify the memes and the memes justify the ends. Words become actions and actions become words.
5 Lies and Distortions in The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 22, 2016
The media abandoned all pretense of objectivity during the 2016 political campaign. (William McGurn, “Anti-Trumpers Channel Their Inner Donald”).
Anti-Trump protestors are acting like hooligans, brownshirts, and anarchists, and refuse to accept the election results (McGurn).
Drug approvals are being needlessly delayed at the FDA because of the agency’s insistence on the efficacy of long-term effects. (Op ed: “A Trumpian Cure for the FDA’s Chronic Lethargy”). This is a distortion rather than a lie: It is axiomatic that drug approval takes longer when the gold standard is establishing positive long-term effects,not short term safety and efficacy, but considering long-term effects is an ethical norm, so can’t be measured in terms of market efficiency. Ignoring long-term outcomes will only put the public at risk even as it boosts corporate profits.
Without bold world leadership–a Pax Americana– the Putin-Iran axis will assume world domination (editorial: “The Syrian Charnel House”). Are we headed for a new Cold War?
The Iran nuclear deal is nothing short of an outright disaster, and will do nothing to deter Iranian nuclear development. (editorial: Mike Pompeo’s Iran File).
