# 11. Lying (Deceit) ## 11.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 11.5.4 Big Lies **"Shit sticks"**: A possible method of improving the effectiveness of deceit and overcoming its potential drawbacks is for a manipulator to tell "big lies". A "big lie" may be either complex or have wide ranging implications. As we explain later in this chapter, the more complex a lie, the more likely it is to be exposed. So why tell "big lies" if there is more risk of the manipulator being discovered? When large scale deceit is employed, the manipulator may be willing to accept exposure. This is because they may still achieve or partially achieve their goals before the lie is uncovered. Even when discovered, a large deceit may have already had the necessary effect, dramatic impact or initiated certain important events before it is exposed. This is the concept of "shit sticks", where if a manipulator throws enough dirt at least some of it will stick to the victim. Corporate deceit of this kind is very common when a company wishes to discredit its competitors, for instance, by suggesting that the victim has acute financial problems or that there is some technical problem with its product. The "Big Lie" concept was made famous by Joseph Goebbels (and Adolf Hitler). The strategy often works because big lies are so preposterous that many people do not suspect that anyone would dare tell such a big lie. As Goebbels put it, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Let us take a modern example of the Big Lie: "ISAF (NATO) and the Afghanistan army are cooperating well and the whole country is under ISAF control". With the benefit of hindsight we can now say how absurd this huge deception was. How could anyone have believed it? One weakness of "the Big Lie" is that it can only be maintained for as long as the state can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences and realities behind the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all of its powers to repress dissent. Truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, truth is the greatest enemy of a deceitful state.