WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO LIE ABOUT SEX, Opinion

Why It Is Important to Lie About Sex,
Norman Horowitz,CBS, Huffington Post. 11/29/05

Having lied myself about sex, I still find it incredible that our nation was torn apart because the president lied about sex. Should he have lied? Of course not, but he did and it was, as they say, “no harm, no foul.”

As an entertainment executive, I have noticed that many people lie whenever the opportunity presents itself. The lies were told in situations that the liar believed that he was gaining something or many times just because he could.

I worked for such a man. When I once caught him in a whopper, I so lost it that in front of a restaurant and a bunch of people, I screamed at him, “The problem I have with you is that lying is so ingrained in whom you are that you are not even aware that you are doing it.”

Scout’s honor, his reply was “Yes, but let me explain why I lied.”

I believe that one of the things that happen to people who have significant power is that they lie about small things in the beginning, and as no one calls them on it, the lies grow in significance and complexity.

I listen carefully to many of the cable news networks (except Fox). I am chagrined when almost everyone is asked: “Did the president or vice president lie about events leading up to the war?” It seems that everyone gives a “worm” answer instead of just saying, “Yes they did.” It appears that the broadcast media is still so intimidated by the president and vice president that I have not seen one use of the reasonable expression “Yes, they LIED.”

I believe that the president and vice president continue to lie because they are allowed to get away with it.

How many times can the president suggest that the Congress knew as much as the administration concerning events leading up to the war?

How many times can he say, “ We are pursuing a noble cause?”

How many times can he just say, “Stay the course”?

How many times can he say, “We cannot cut and run”?

If I ever had the chance, I would ask the three broadcast network anchorpersons, “Would it be possible for you to call the president or the vice president a liar during your news broadcast? If you did, do you think that you would be fired?”

It was more then 20 years ago that I asked Eric Severeid about his CBS commentaries, and he maintained that he had only been criticized by his management four times for what he had said. He was very upset when I suggested the possibility that he played by the unwritten rules at the network News Division, and if he did not he would have been gone.