Video Archives - "Lying in Politics: Alchemies of Deception" (2011)

Friday, March 5, 2011: “Lying and Politics: Alchemies of Deception”

Participants: Roger Hodge, Editor of Harper’s Magazine from 2006-2010

Roger Hodge gave a talk as a part of the Arendt Center’s March 2011 conference: “Lying and Politics.” Hodge focuses his talk on the matter of deception in politics.

In his talk, Hodge expresses frustration with the state of American politics and the way our discourse frames American military power. “Previous empires celebrated their majesty and martial prowess. America does so with a troubled conscience,” he states, a claim which leads to what Hodge sees as the historically unique condition of American power in the public conversation. “The only limits to American power,” he says later, “are the limits on what can be said publicly.” Hodge paints a picture of an America caught up in a tangled web of its own lies, using the example of Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow in Egypt. It is public knowledge that Mubarak was a brutal and corrupt ruler whom America funded, backing which helped secure his power over the broken republic, thereby creating an Egypt with “no true political space”, as Arendt might say.

[caption id="attachment_14367" align="alignleft" width="300"] Roger Hodge[/caption]

All of these facts notwithstanding, the only truly unviable course of action for America was to tell the truth—to condemn Mubarak for his actions and admit our own complicity in them. “In the United States we insist our politicians tell lies which are…not substantively different from the lies we tell our children to inflate their self-esteems,” says Hodge. In his solemn condemnation of this American lying in politics, Hodge not only finds fault in the personal character of leaders such as President Barack Obama, but he also observes systemic corruption in our political system. “We have changed the actor,” he insists, “but not the mask, not the persona of executive power.” In our system, political leaders are representative of the will of their constituents, but this will is oftentimes expressed via money. Hodge contends that the voice of those with money ultimately shapes political action, which may, in turn, subvert public reason. The Egyptian example illustrates this clearly, as public reason, Hodge suggests, would have demanded withdrawal of support for Mubarak long ago.

The talk is followed by an extended Q&A session. It is well worth watching to observe how Arendt’s thinking can be use to critique political approaches to today’s events.

Analysis by Dan Perlman

You can watch Hodge's talk and the Q&A session in full below:

Lying and Politics: Alchemies of Deception from Hannah Arendt Center on Vimeo.

Lying and Politics: Roger Hodge Q&A from Hannah Arendt Center on Vimeo.