Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

A Nation Where Lies Outnumber Truths
Glen Ford, BAR executive editor
17 Jan 2007
🖨️ Print Article

by Glen Ford

Lies so permeate the assumptions on which U.S. public discourse is based, the truth often finds no place in the conversation. The biggest concentration of lies and liars can be found on corporate TV ‘news’ broadcasts.

A Nation Where Lies Outnumber Truths

It becomes ever more difficult to hold a coherent conversation in the United States, so saturated is daily discourse with lies. It’s like a minefield of lies out there – too many to map. But, here are some key phrases to look out for when attempting to avoid lies.

Any sentence that includes the words, “War on Terror” is rooted in a lie. There is no such thing as a War on Terror, and never has been. War, itself, is organized terror. That’s why international law finally got around to making it a crime to wage war against peace, an offense for which a number of Nazis were hanged, after World War Two. Like them, George Bush wages a terrifying war against peace – under the guise of a lie with no end.

War on Drugs.” Another never-was, never-will-be phrase. The United States is the illegal and legal mind- and body-altering drug empire of the world. So, if the U.S. were waging a war on drugs, it would be attacking itself daily. The real domestic war is a war on Black people. The casualties number in the millions, making up half the U.S. prison system.

If there were a real war on drugs, the fiercest battles would be taking place somewhere widely referred to as “the American Heartland.” American Heartland is a liars term, one that really means a place that’s overwhelmingly white. It’s also where methamphetamines rule, but no one is waging a War on Drugs, there. Not enough Black people.

“Pretty soon, outright fascists will simply be called ‘conservatives.’”

Here’s another lying phrase: “Good news on Wall Street.” So-called news people throw that lie around all the time. Good news for who? When Wal-Mart succeeds in further depressing the wages of working people, its stock on Wall Street goes up. That may be good news for Wal-Mart, but its not good news for most of the rest of us. In fact, every time so-called news people proclaim there’s “Good news on Wall Street,” they are, by definition, lying to most of the audience.

 “Conservative” – that’s a liar’s word if there ever was one. What it really means is a person or party on the right of the political spectrum. In the U.S., that spectrum keeps going further and further rightwards. Pretty soon, outright fascists will simply be called “conservatives.” Maybe they already are.

 “Liberal” is also a lie. I can prove it. They call Hillary Clinton a liberal. They’re lying.

 “Strongman” is a lying word used by the corporate media to denote a foreign leader that the United States doesn’t like. In reality, the U.S. hopes that the “Strongman” is really a weak man, so they can overthrow him – which always requires a whole lot of lying.

Finally, the lying-est word in the American vocabulary: "News." The so-called news is full of words and phrases that are, in fact, lies. In that kind of environment, there's no place for the truth. For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • End colonialism
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    African Descendants and Just Transition in the Climate Crisis
    24 Apr 2026
    The first International Conference to Phase Out Fossil Fuels takes place in Santa Marta, Colombia, from April 24 to April 29. Anthony Rogers-Wright, a Black Agenda Report contributor, provides…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump Uses Immigration Enforcement to Make America Whiter Again
    22 Apr 2026
    The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies are racist and are intended to send even documented Global South immigrants and naturalized citizens out of the country. The evidence is…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    White Power, White Decedance, White Denial: A Dialog with Ajamu Baraka
    22 Apr 2026
    Ajamu Baraka and Margaret Kimberley discuss how the assault on Iran exposed the pathological nature of white power, the cynical games of the duopoly, and a new campaign to move the World Cup out of…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Class War in Cuba, Julio Antonio Mella, 1926
    22 Apr 2026
    “This pamphlet is a response to the bloody offensive by our tyrant and his master –Yankee capitalist imperialism.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Blackshirts and Reds, the Profound and Persistent Class Analysis of Dr. Michael Parenti
    22 Apr 2026
    On Saturday, April 25th a memorial service will be held in Berkeley, California for Dr. Michael Parenti, radical historian, social scientist, author, and public speaker. There will be a…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us