Half-Truths and Brazen Lies: An Honest Look at Lying

Half-Truths and Brazen Lies: An Honest Look at Lying — page 3 — Chapter 1 WHAT’S IN A LIE

Half-Truths and Brazen Lies: An Honest Look at Lying — page 4 — 5 There’s nothing like real homegrown spaghetti When British families plopped down in front of their television sets one night in 1957 they thought they were in for some regular old TV viewing Panorama a popular BBC news show was on Toward the end of the show the news anchor turned to the camera and said We end Panorama tonight with a special report from the Swiss Alps The footage showed Switzerland in springtime and women wearing traditional Swiss clothing plucking long strands of spaghetti from trees The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer the reporter explained with a straight face While he spoke so-called farmers were shown spreading out a harvest of fresh spaghetti to dry in the sun Viewers were told that the threat of frost could ruin the pasta’s taste but at least the dreaded spaghetti weevil insect hadn’t damaged the crops that year When the story was over the anchor finished the broadcast by saying Now we say good night on this first day of April Of course the story wasn’t true It was an April Fools Day joke told for fun But not many people in Britain knew that at the time Italian pasta was still considered a special exotic dish Hundreds of viewers called in to the station to ask where they could buy a spaghetti bush Others wanted to know how to grow their own tree The reply Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best Hoaxes pocus So is an April Fools Day joke actually a lie Sure though not the same kind you might tell to wriggle out of an uncomfortable situation The spaghetti joke was considered a hoax A really good one too An April Fools hoax is a special kind of lie that’s outrageous told in good fun meant to grab the public’s attention TRUE STORY Perhaps what really sets a hoax apart from other kinds of lies is that the liar wants to be found out eventually Many companies now make up elaborate April Fools Day hoaxes to get attention and publicity only to reveal the truth later For instance on April 1 2014 Domino’s Pizza UK claimed it was now offering an edible pizza box calling it the future of snackaging Meanwhile Sonic Drive-In the American fast-food restaurant declared it would soon be offering a kale cream pie shake Back in 2011 Canadian airline WestJet released a video stating that the company would be adding helium think of helium balloons to their planes to make them lighter It was all a bunch of hot air of course As hoaxes show there are many different kinds of lies and lots of reasons people tell them This chapter is about answering the question When is a lie a lie and when is it something else

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