John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Rocker in his Concord home: Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.

There has been a shift in the behavioral norms of powerful people in politics, industry, business, media, and society. Amanda Taub wrote in the New York Times, “Those elites have lost the power they once had to enforce norms, or they have decided to change their own behavior. We’re only just starting to understand the consequences of that shift.”

Supreme Court rulings have influenced part of this shift with its rulings concerning libel laws and their effect upon the news media as well as upon citizens appealing to those new laws. The Court has recently been citing The New York Times v. Sullivan 1964 Supreme Court decision concerning libel laws. The Court is choosing to give more weight to the side of freedom of speech than to the necessity of telling the truth, “no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

The result, Taub writes, “has made it largely permissible to disseminate falsehoods about an enormous range of people and entities.” The irony is that contrary to the new freedom to perpetuate falsehoods, the norms of truthfulness have been taught in American literature since the formation of the nation.

Once upon a time, during the birth of our nation, a young boy was asked by his father, “Who cut down the cherry tree?” “I cannot tell a lie,” the boy replied, “I chopped down the cherry tree.”

That fable was about the dilemmas every growing child and mature adult must face. They make mistakes and try out new behaviors. When it goes wrong, as it inevitably will, they must make a choice. This fable scorns the choice to make excuses, defend, deny, and deflect. It advocates being honest and facing the consequences — sometimes painful but ultimately successful.

And, when the fable is about a president of the United States, it also illustrates a belief that presidents personify honesty and trustworthiness. The lesson from George Washington and “Honest Abe” is, “go and do likewise.” There are also many fables about the repercussions of telling lies. We only need to hear the titles to be reminded: “Pinocchio” or “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” tell it all.

If these old fables to teach morality are perceived as unrelatable, old fashioned, or out of date, there is a contemporary collection of morality stories such as “The Extraordinary Attorney Woo” and “Star Trek.” This last week on TV there was a Star Trek movie, “Into the Darkness.” Lies and intrigue lead the Enterprise into the dark world of possible interstellar war. Captain Kirk disobeys orders from the high command, justifying that he is doing the right thing. He then hides his actions from his superiors. However, Kirk’s first officer, Mr. Spock, argues for truth, even with the potential of personally troubling consequences. The conflict illustrates the choice: strive for good through deception or with truthfulness.

With the new libel laws, the Supreme Court seems to have fallen in line with another family of fables, the trickster stories. An example is the story of Brer Rabbit. The fox traps Brer Rabbit and intends to eat him. Brer Rabbit tricks the fox saying, “Do anything to me, but please don’t throw me into the briar patch!” With this deception, he tricks the fox into throwing him into that safe place. The story celebrates the rabbit’s success through deception. Fables like this are mirroring the new norms for Congress, commercials, diplomacy, debates, and society. These fables reflect the erosion of the country’s traditional norm of success through truthfulness.

Democracy is being threatened by the dangers of perpetuating falsehoods. A democracy may only exist in an environment where debates, negotiations, and voting can depend on truthfulness. The new libel laws seem to take away any incentive to adhere to the norms of Mr. Spock, Attorney Woo, President Washington or “Honest Abe.”

Being protected from libel suits frees the likes of Brer Rabbit or Captain Kirk to choose deception to accomplish their goals. This choice leads to caution and suspicion that others may be playing the same role of trickster. It also contributes to the great divide so obvious in the political, social, and economic realms. Jeannie Suk Gersen suggested in the New Yorker, “the proliferation of misinformation… blights civic discourse and impairs the functioning of our democracy.”

Steven Levitsky, the Harvard political scientist, wrote in “How Democracies Die,” (in the past), “Politicians obviously had to pursue votes and give the voters what they wanted. But always within parameters set by the establishment, certain normative lines of behavior… There were certain codes of conduct and policy parameters that could only be crossed at great cost.”

But now, charismatic politicians can reach voters directly via social media, and the political establishment has lost a lot of its ability to police those norms. It has been left to citizens to call out the tricksters. Democracy will rise or fall depending on the dominance of either truth-tellers or tricksters. Reuniting truth with democracy is a goal worth the struggle. The fables tell us that embracing truth is not always easy, but it is necessary and ultimately rewarding.

]]>