Is this still true. Does it apply to governments.

''Above all, I would teach him to tell the truth.... Truth telling, I have found, is the key to responsible citizenship. The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common:

every single one was a liar.'' --J. Edgar Hoover

-- Lyle (eileen@idacom.net), November 25, 1999

Answers

No. It does not apply to governments. Only to the politicians that run them and the stultifying 'crats that staff the various agencies that make up the government.

Why should they lie when they have the power over the media to spin the truth anyway that is convienient.

-- Lobo (atthelair@yahoo.com), November 25, 1999.

Lobo.....you can't spin the truth. Any variation on the theme makes it less than the truth, which = lie. Lyle.....Hoover made this honest comment in order to place such an impossible amount of guilt on his subordinates, that whichever one of them put the itch powder in his pantyhose would confess.

-- tired (axemansrv1@aol.com), November 25, 1999.

'Course J-Edgar wasn't exactly the poster boy for transparency, after all.

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 25, 1999.

Eileen - I have been thinking about y2k lately

not as an exposition of technology's effect on US society,

but about the effect of corporations and corporation-like [bureaucratic] behavior in government on truth telling.

I have sat in the same room with people speaking for corp's and gov. and heard them saying such ridiculous things.

Q.: What will be the effect of foreign countries, who are not making progress on y2k compliance, on the U.S.? A.: We might not have bananas on the shelves, but hey. . .I can live without bananas.

The MOST AMAZING THING about this experience was the response. Everyone just sat there. Where were the reporters? I don't know. But later I told this to not just a reporter, but an editor and she said she wouldn't have taken it "that way" [the way I was taking it, that he wasn downplaying an extremely important issue.] She could have said to me, "Oh that's kind of funny. I would have said, 'Why bananas?' and pressed him to explain the import - OIL!! - issues of y2k.'" But she found his answer so acceptable.

Many of the y2k flyers in utility bills are pure tripe, but the public expects it, accepts it, and can't understand my amazement. I said at one public meeting that those flyers did not match the reality at at least one utility company I was familiar with and the Public Service spokewoman for our state said that that was an irresponsible remark. That MY remark was IRRESPONSIBLE?? This irony was so perfect it forced me to see things much more clearly. When a corp. speaks or the gov. speaks no one expects truth. The PEOPLE expect butt-covering happy talk. Can you imagine what would happen if we went to war? Happy talk, happy talk, not our fault, best we can, DUCK!!, happy talk, happy talk. . . .see, some of us are still alive and you can thank [fill in the blank] for that . . .

And ynott says SHE has sewage in the backyard.

-- Becky (rmbolte@wvadventures.net), November 25, 1999.