Serial falsehood complicates the lie-truth distinction when speakers believe their claims

Evidence

For Donald Trump, shamelessness is not just a strength, it’s a strategy. … Whether it’s the size of his inaugural crowds or voter fraud or NATO funding or the claim that he was wiretapped, Trump says a great many things that are demonstrably false. But indicting Trump as a serial liar risks missing a more disturbing question: What does he actually believe? Does it count as lying if he believes what he says? … Where is the line between lie, spin and delusion? Or, as his adviser Kellyanne Conway memorably put it, between facts and alternative facts, the conclusions that he wants the audience to reach vs. the conclusions warranted by the evidence at hand? — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 310

Categorization

• XREF: Distinguishing belief-laden falsehood from deliberate lie echoes the broader post-truth framework of the book and Arendt’s analysis of the liar who believes his own fictions; connects to discussions of ‘alternative facts’ elsewhere in the ethics-of-communication literature. — connects to: Sincere belief in fantastic claims blurs the boundary between fact and fiction — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 214; Lie-telling presupposes a shared reality that conspiracism rejects — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 162; Truth-seeking assumptions leave people unprepared for deliberate lying — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3144 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• People paid less to lie rationalize the lie as genuine belief #exemplifies (0.82) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 86
• Repeated false accusation can generate belief through sheer illocutionary force #exemplifies (0.78) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1466
• Truth-seeking assumptions leave people unprepared for deliberate lying #expands (0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3144