Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
You may have told your spouse that you did the vacuuming, that your girlfriend does not look fat in her new pants and other smaller lies – but some lies have gone down in history.
You may have told your spouse that you did the vacuuming, that your girlfriend does not look fat in her new pants and other smaller lies – but some lies have gone down in history.
We all do it
We all lie. It’s a basic human instinct. Whether it’s to make ourselves look better, to not hurt someones feelings or to get out of trouble, you have lied at some point in your life – and if you say “no”, you’re probably lying.
Some are bigger than others
But some lies have gone down in history efter they were exposed, and some of the ones on this list has cost countless lives.
Smoking is not addictive
As far back as 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report warning about the dangers of smoking cigarettes – but that didn’t keep the cigarette manufacturers from claiming the exact opposite for decades. As late as 1994, then CEO of RJ Reynolds, James W. Johnston, claimed that “cigarette smoking is no more addictive than coffee, tea or Twinkies”.
The Trojan Horse
Deceipt is an important part of warfare to this day, and a lie actually ended the 10 years long war between the Trojans and the Greeks. The Trojans believed they had defeated the Greeks, when the Greeks built an enormous wooden horse and placed it at the gates of Troy. Little did the Trojans know that the horse was filled with Greek soldiers, and during the night, the Greeks snuck out of the horse and decisively defeated the Trojans.
The Vermeer Forgeries
The Dutch painter, Han van Meegeren, managed to trick the entire Art scene in the early half of the 20th century when he forged a painting, “The Disciples at Emmaus”. The painting was hailed as an authentic painting by the late, great Dutch painter, Vermeer, and van Meegeren made a fortune producing and selling more fake Vermeers.
The Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme
In 2008, Bernie Madoff admitted that his investment firm was “just one big lie” – that might be a slight understatement, since Madoff confessed to conning about $50 billion from investors for more than a decade. A Ponzi Scheme is characterized by the schemer promising big rewards for investors, but instead of investing the money, the schemer uses the money from new investors to pay off the old ones, while also keeping some for himself.
Study on Vaccine and Autism
In 1998, Andrew Wakefield published a study on the link between Vaccines and Autism, sepcifically focusing on the MMR-vaccine. The study had a sample size of only 12 children, and Wakefield, who later lost his medical license, did not get the necessary clearane to work with children subjects. Furthermore, he falsified his results. The study was retracted and Wakefield became a pariah in the world of Medicine.
Stop the Steal
After losing the 2020 Presidential Election, Donald Trump claimed that the results of the election was rigged. Numerous investigations have proven this to be untrue, but more than a year after the election, more than 2 in 3 Republicans still thought the election had been stolen from Trump.
Clinton/Lewinsky
This one had to be here, right? Sitting President, Bill Clinton, lied under oath when he denied having an affair with White House Intern Monica Lewinsky, but even after the truth came out, Clinton stayed in the White House with surprisingly high approval ratings.
The Big Lie of the Nazis
There was nothing new about anti-Semitism in 1930’s Germany. However, the Nazi’s, with Adolf Hitler as their leader, pepetuated the century-old lies in a massive campaign to convince the German people, that the Jews were the root to all of the populations problems. One of the most outrageous lies, today known as “blood libel”, claimed that Jews made ritualistic killings of Christan children to use their blood on bread.