Just remember... - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Long-time readers of this column - and I know there are dozens of you - will never grow tired of my Seinfeld references. Even as young people try to make the claim - erroneously - that Friends is the superior show, Seinfeld still reigns supreme here in the Shawn’s Sense corner of the world.

 

One of my favourite George Costanza scenes of all time is when Jerry asks George, the show’s ultimate liar, how he might be able to beat a lie detector test. George says it’s a skill he was born with and cannot teach. But, as Jerry leaves, he imparts what wisdom he can to his friend in trouble. “Jerry, just remember... it’s not a lie if you believe it.”

 

In this scene, George is meant to be the show’s World Heavyweight Champion in the fine art of Scumbaggery. What he says to Jerry is meant to frame him as being about as low as it goes in the universe of the show and that’s what he says to him in that moment.

 

That was all the way back in 1995. Things were different then. They were more respectful and the office of the U.S. President was a holy place that no one would ever sully with lies. **Someone taps Loughlin on the shoulder and whispers a tidbit in his ear about who exactly was the president in 1995.** Backspace....

 

OK, not a great set-up, but still, it’s a valid point. The way George lived his life (regarding lying and believing those lies in order to get him through the day and make looking at himself in the mirror a tolerable experience) was silly and undignified at the time. Now there are people who treat it like their religion.

 

Back to that most Oval of Offices, we have Donald Trump, who was just found guilty in a high-profile hush money trial. He is the first president to ever be convicted of a crime and many on the left have declared that a porn star has saved democracy. What a time to be alive.

 

Anyway, Trump subscribes to the Tao of Costanza. He believes his lies so hard that he wills them to be true. Meanwhile, those who support him - in between dead baby sign-making sessions and Klan rallies - believe those lies too. And, just like their dear leader, they believe them hard enough that they really think that they’re true.

 

The whole phenomenon of fake news and alternative facts trades in this currency as well. Inconvenient truths are shunned in favour of ones that better fit the narrative of the speaker and, because some things are true and others are not, they’re framed as opinions that, slowly but surely, get reshaped into facts. And when I say facts, I mean facts as the speakers sees them. Remember Joe Rogan, it’s not a lie if you believe it.

 

Then there’s all that claptrap that I hesitate to bother with, but I will. Medical evidence, scientific experts and the good of the world... are no match for a meme your wacky cousin shared on Facebook. It’s a picture that has words on it. Something like that’s gotta be true.

 

And, getting back to Costanza, the thing about it is that it’s not viewed as something to look down upon anymore. It’s accepted. The President of the United States and other major politicians around the world are actively lying and making things up, but, because it fits a certain narrative that some people like, it shape-shifts from an offensive opinion to some kind of a fact. And, if you yell about it loud enough, other people will just back down, further proving your point.

 

Jerry’s lie detector test concerned whether he watched Melrose Place or not. While it may have been hot-button at the time, the stakes for this behaviour now are much, much higher.