How the Lie Became Policy

People walk along a shopping street near the gates of the Kremlin in Moscow, in a file photo. We are now experiencing the Russian concept of vranyo, in which everyone knows a lie is being told, and knows that the liar knows that they know. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Commentary

Politics, charged with the ordering of human affairs, has always generated more than its share of half-truths and untruths. But thanks to the contemporary explosion of sophisticated communication technology paired with the general shamelessness encouraged by moral relativism, the Lie has become a veritable institution, a pandemic of structurally embedded mendacity.