Why Do People Tell Lies That Can Be Easily Checked?

A few weeks back, I couldn’t believe my ears, Glenn Beck and David Barton were saying that former President Ronald Reagan opposed the Brady Bill and the federal assault weapons ban.

Here is a partial transcript.

Beck: The assault weapons ban and handgun control—that was actually started by James Brady, but, the interesting thing is, the guy, who was shot and almost died on the table, Ronald Reagan—what did he do?

Barton: Fought gun control, was not going to allow it, and it didn’t, I mean it didn’t for 15 years. So you had the press secretary of Reagan, who is for it, but Reagan himself said, no, no, no, we punish the perpetrators, not taking everybody’s guns away and we just fought that. ^[1]

What was Ronald Reagan’s stance on the Brady Bill? On March 29, 1991 the New York Times published an Op-Ed piece written by Ronald Reagan, entitled Why I’m for the Brady Bill. ^[2] Reagan began the piece by describing those who were shot by John Hinkley, Jr. and how that incident had affected their lives. He then said that maybe, “This nightmare might never have happened if legislation that is before Congress now — the Brady bill — had been law back in 1981.” He then listed what is in the Brady Bill and he added his reasons for supporting that item. He even provided answers to critics of the bill. He mentioned that while he was governor of California, he supported a waiting period and that he had signed a 15 day waiting period into law. He then ended with this:

Every year, an average of 9,200 Americans are murdered by handguns, according to Department of Justice statistics. This does not include suicides or the tens of thousands of robberies, rapes and assaults committed with handguns.

This level of violence must be stopped. Sarah and Jim Brady are working hard to do that, and I say more power to them. If the passage of the Brady bill were to result in a reduction of only 10 or 15 percent of those numbers (and it could be a good deal greater), it would be well worth making it the law of the land.

Ronald Reagan also supported the assault weapons ban and he was even instrumental in swaying Republican members, in a close vote, to gain the necessary votes to pass the bill. In 1994, Reagan joined two other former presidents, Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, to write a letter to the members of the House of Representatives, urging them to pass the assault weapons ban. Here is an excerpt from the co-authored letter:

While we recognize that assault weapon legislation will not stop all assault weapon crime, statistics prove that we can dry up the supply of these guns, making them less accessible to criminals. We urge you to listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of these weapons. ^[3]

There is no disputing that Ronald Reagan was in favor of the Brady Bill and the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, otherwise known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

Glenn Beck is by no mean a paragon of truth and David Barton is infamous for rewriting history. His book The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson was recalled by the publisher when it was found to be rife with errors, inaccuracies and untruths. It is ironic that Barton entitled his book The Jefferson Lies, which is a form of propaganda to label truth as lies and lies as truth.

Beck has given Barton a platform for rewriting the history of the 2nd Amendment and gun control, just like Barton has rewritten the history of Thomas Jefferson. The lie that Reagan was opposed to the Brady Bill is actually something that is easily struck down as false, since Reagan wrote publicly about his support for the Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban. I told my wife about this easily checked lie and she asked, “Why would someone tell a lie that could be so easily checked?”

On the surface this may seem perplexing, but there are reasons why people like Beck and Barton do this on a regular basis.

Foremost, people who have shows or columns have followers. These followers like what the hosts or authors say, otherwise they would go somewhere else. Most of the viewers of Glenn Beck’s show are probably already against any gun control. So, one could ask, “Why would Beck tell the truth, when a plausible sounding lie would have a much greater influence on his viewership?” There will be a percentage of his viewers, who will discount and completely ignore any disproof they may encounter and continue to believe the lie. These are the Dittoheads that will unquestioningly accept anything that Beck says on his show.

To see how people hold onto the lie, in the face of authoritative evidence to the contrary, take a look at some of the review comments for Barton’s The Jefferson Lies on Amazon.com. Keep in mind, this is a book that was recalled by the publisher, due to historical inaccuracies, and has been widely shown to contain a great number of inaccuracies by historians—several of them who are also Christian.^[4]

Here is a comment by “Jim” that illustrates how people will continue to believe the lie—the lie is the truth and the truth is the lie.

it’s sad that the truth is either altered or we are taught lies about our founding fathers. So many of the liberal writers, educators, and media cover up what should be taught to every young person in our country. I have the most respect for the author of this book, David Barton. I saw him for the first time on the Glenn Beck Show, his knowledge of the history of our country was impressive; it [he] spit out dates like it was yesterday and events that I had no knowledge. When it comes to American history, believe him, and read this book. ^[5]

This comment shows that “Jim” trusts or believes people, who say the things that he already believes, over facts presented by academia. This is called confirmation bias. No amount of proof to the contrary can sway this type of believer from what they believe to be true. “Jim” admits his own lack of knowledge of American history, so what basis is he using to judge that historians are wrong and Barton is right? He has no concrete evidence only the feeling of what he wants to believe is true.

This little exchange between Beck and Barton is an example of several propaganda techniques. I will only touch on a few of them.

One form of propaganda is to evoke the endorsement of an authority. Ronald Reagan is a highly regarded authority among conservatives, a true champion of conservative values, such as unregulated gun ownership. The part fits the man. What better endorsement against gun control, than a highly regarded former president, who was almost killed by a handgun. Of course, this was a false endorsement, but it makes a powerful propaganda image for their cause. If this wasn’t bad enough, they also slight James Brady, by not even mentioning his tragic experience of the shooting and its lasting effect that he has to deal with in his daily life. In this propaganda piece, Brady is only meant to be a shallow image for contrast to the authority-hero figure of Ronald Reagan. Again this is another form of propaganda—to show misleading contrasts and comparisons.

Many propaganda techniques are intended to evoke emotions and appeal to the individual on an emotional level, rather than an intellectual level. Beck’s image of Ronald Reagan is meant to evoke an emotion within the viewer. In place of Reagan’s true stance on the Brady Bill, Beck injects an emotional image of Reagan, as a hero coming back from the brink of death to fight against gun control. During his description of Ronald Reagan being shot and almost dying, Glenn Beck pauses between words and says them in a way to give them an added dramatic effect.

Barton continued this emotional tactic, by appealing to the fear of the viewers. He did this by using another technique—-association or transfer. He associates the unfavorable fear emotion of taking “everybody’s guns away” with the Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban, and to the next logic leap of any gun control legislation will take “everybody’s guns away.” The Brady Bill called for a waiting period for a federal background check. The assault weapons ban prohibited the sale of military-style semi-automatic weapons. Both of these bills were moderate steps towards gun control and never were anywhere near banning “everybody’s guns,” but it is this emotion of fear that Beck and Barton wish connect to all gun regulation.

A friend of mine is fearful of any sort of gun control. In our discussions, I finally pressed him to at least agree to some common ground—that there is a need for some form of gun control and no one needs to own a military-style semi-automatic weapon. He reluctantly agreed, but in the same breath reiterated that he was against any gun control legislation, because he was fearful of where necessary gun control would lead to next. It is this same fear propaganda that the NRA, Beck and Barton are pushing—that all gun control is aimed at eventually taking away everybody’s guns.

Both Glenn Beck and David Barton have disrespected and dishonor both Ronald Reagan and James Brady, by using both of them as propaganda pawns to fight against any gun control, no matter how beneficial the legislation may be to the safety of law enforcement personnel and the citizens of America.

Further Reading
Propaganda Techniques
Right Wing Watch: David Barton
Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right’s Alternate Version of American History Vol. 1 – Book and the “No, Mr. Beck” series of videos