Mary M. Coady nailed it in her letter to the Minnesota Star Tribune today:
We seem to make up words to not use the word lie. Just to be clear, fake news is a lie. Misinformation is a lie. Alternative facts are a lie. Revisionism is a lie. We teach our children to tell the truth and anything else is a lie. Or remember the word fib? I wish the media wouldn’t shy away from saying something is a lie. When someone says that Ukraine started the war, the media should emphatically state that is a lie and that Russia started the war in 2022!
From your lips to God’s ears, Ms. Coady. And so should we. She’s absolutely right. Call it. Every time. Anytime you hear yet another lie from the republicans in any context, say it out loud, “That is a lie.” Like a religious mantra. “That is a lie.”
How about we just go ahead and start a religion: Truthism. But with one moral: Tell the truth.* One Psalm: Lying hurts. One holiday: Every day is truth day. One hymnal: Any song with “the truth will set you free” in it.
So someone says something, in front of you, or on the television, or in something you’re reading, and you know it to be untrue, say it out loud, “That is a lie.” And be ready with your sources and that is all you say, like a captured soldier who will give only name, rank and serial number, “I will email or text my sources.” Like Spock.
Let’s just stop putting up with it. It’s a lie. It’s a lie! It’s a god-damned lie! No. “That is a lie.” “That is a lie.” “That is a lie.”
Our sacred sound and invocation. Our own om.
Luke Soiseth 