A Brief History
On May 9, 1926, Richard E. Byrd claimed to have made a flight over the North Pole, making him (the navigator) and his pilot the first men to have achieved that distinction. Doubters surfaced soon afterwards, and the 1996 release of Byrd’s diary clearly showed how he had falsified data to claim he had made the trip when in reality he had turned back without achieving his goal. People lie. Not all the time, but often enough and about big enough subjects that we have compiled a list of 10 big whoppers for you.
Digging Deeper
10. “Smiling Bob,” Enzyte will make your penis grow (2005)
Actually, Smiling Bob is just the guy in the television commercial, the real culprit is Steven Warshak and his mother Harriet, both of whom were sentenced to jail for pushing the phony drug on an optimistic but naïve public. A similar product, ExenZe has also earned its company attention from various state Attorneys General as well as customers who complain of bad side effects. The American Urological Association has clearly stated that none of these penis enhancing pills work and all are a scam.
9. Triple Entente (allies), Germany started World War I (1919)
In the 1919 Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I (fighting had halted with the Armistice of 1918) Germany was forced to accept blame for starting the war, which is ridiculous, considering the war started when the Austro-Hungarian Empire attacked Serbia and Imperial Russia in turn came to Serbia’s defense. All the other countries involved joined in after that.
8. US and British governments, the RMS Lusitania was not carrying war materiel (1915)
When the ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat during World War I it was claimed she was peacefully carrying only passengers and non-war related cargo. In reality she was carrying over 4 million rounds of rifle ammunition and over 100,000 pounds of 3 inch artillery shells. Germany also pointed out that the ship was classed by Britain as an “auxiliary cruiser.”
7. Senator Joseph McCarthy, “The State Department is infested with Communists!” (1950)
When “Tailgunner Joe” made that claim in a speech in Wheeling, he waved around a piece of paper that he claimed had 205 names of communists working at the State Department. Under pressure, he eventually decreased the number of accused to only 9 that he could name, some of which no longer worked at the State Department or had never worked there! Discredited, his name in the term “McCarthyism” is synonymous with flat out lies used to attack other people.
6. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed homosexuality in Iran does not exist (2012)
Representing the national homophobia, “Nut-minajad” as Jay Leno used to call him had made this claim more than once. At the same time he claimed that the US and other western countries had created the AIDS virus as a weapon against third world nations. Both claims are idiotic on the face of them.
5. Admiral Richard Byrd, claimed to have flown over the North Pole (1926)
As described above, he lied and received the Medal of Honor, the highest medal the US military can earn. His lie was not really caught until 1996, so his wealth, glory and fame earned from the false achievement is a real slap in the face to the brave men who have earned their Medal of Honor honestly.
4. President Richard Nixon, “I’m not a crook” (1973)
Well, yes he was. Nixon had to pay back $465,000 in unpaid income tax and had lied all along about the “Watergate” scandal. He resigned about a year and a half after his disingenuous statement.
3. President George W. Bush and his Administration, Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and had something to do with the 9/11 attacks (2003)
Well, turns out Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and there was no reason to believe they did. Also, there never was any evidence that Iraq had anything to do with Al Qaeda or the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This was the US excuse for invading Iraq, an incredibly costly mistake.
2. Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, Poland attacked Germany (1939).
This claim was so outrageous that no serious person outside of Germany could possibly have believed it. In order to sell the lie the Nazi’s had dressed up dead Poles in German uniforms to make it look like Germany had been attacked. This claim was Germany’s excuse for invading Poland, triggering World War II.
1. President Bill Clinton, “I did not have sex with that woman…” (1998)
Just change the name and the date and, disgracefully, you have half (more?) the men on the planet with this one (change the gender, and you would have as many women as well). Shortly after this feeble attempt to convince a public that could not be convinced of his “innocence” President Clinton admitted he had indeed had an affair with Ms. Lewinsky and had lied about it. Many people were shocked to hear a president openly admit a lie, while others thought any normal man would have at least tried to lie his way out of that particular dilemma.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Is a sequel list needed? Maybe you have told some big ones of your own, or maybe someone has laid a large not so white lie on you.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Frater, Jamie. I Call Bullshit: Debunking the Most Commonly Repeated Myths. Ulysses Press, 2011.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Touchstone, 2007.
