Politicians? Less trustworthy now than fifty years ago?

Question

Is spin a modern phenomena or just what used to be called misinformation? (or to paraphrase Churchill, terminological inexactitudes)?

What are you Americans doing on British answers? Can't your own people think of anything significant to ask?

Answer 1

Less trustworthy? Probably not. Much more visible? Absolutely.

Answer 2

Spin is a modern phenomenon and is particularly sad when you see politicians changing their style of dress and colour of tie just because they're told to. They'd probably have told Harold Wilson to get rid of his Gannex macs.

It seems fairly clear from the papers released every thirty years that there was quite a bit of misinformation in the past, but it was not quite so obvious as it is nowadays, with televised parliamentary proceedings and instant reporting of every statement made. There is also the fact that newspapers which used to be thrown out as compost or used to wrap our fish and chips can now be consulted on line, so that we can check up on something which we might otherwise have forgotten completely or not had time to examine when it was happening.

Only those who are scruplously honest and straightforward all the time can speak with conviction and without fear of self-contradiction. It is perhaps it is the urge to court the world's press which causes politicians to trip themselves up. Everything happens so quickly that there is no time to think things over. When one catches a glimpse of Tony Blair nowadays, without the benefit of clever speech writers, it is striking to see how unimpressive he is as a speaker.

Answer 3

i think politicians have always been liars nest featherers and deceivers. its just that new labour have reached heights never before thought attainable. they actualy lie from dusk till dawn.....i honestly think you would have a realy bad time finding a single statement of truth from these traitors. the sight of any one of them makes my flesh crawl. politics will never be the same in Britain again. i dont think you'l ever get the British public to trust politicians after this. i think for the good of the country its time we had laws put in place to imprison MPs for lies and deception.(and i mean a long prison sentence) its time it all stopped. the public should not tollerate being lied to by the people it employ's. no outher employer would be expected to put up with it....so why should we??

Answer 4

Politics in the US have never been really -clean- but I think we've reached a new level of corruption and spin and lying.

My first experience with politics was just about 50 years ao, when I was a little kid. My mom took me to her polling place when I was just 4 or 5, took me in the voting booth with her and showed me how it worked. She was voting for Adlai Stevenson for president but she said General Eisenhower (as she called him) was also a very good man. When since then have we had a choice between two such worthy and honorable men?

Eisenhower was so popular after WWII that he could have run for president under either party, and both parties courted him. He went with the Republicans but he got so pissed off with them at the convention when he heard the chairman of the party call Stevenson a 'communist sympathizer' that he nearly walked out. He also nearly dropped Nixon as his running mate when Nixon turned out to be such a crook.

We've really gone downhill in 50 years!

Answer 5

Not that I'm satisfied with the current situation but, even a cursory examination of American history reveals that it was much worse before.
Chicago
Five corners in NYC
Tammany Hall.
Watergate
Iran Contra
Travelgate
Tea Pot Dome
Crédit Mobilier
McCarthyism
Billy Sol Estes
and on and on....

Answer 6

I doubt that there are more untrustworthy politicians now. I think there's a much more aggressive press that uncovers more.

Think of Huey Long and Boss Tweed and the Daleys in Chicago - not exactly trustworthy.

Answer 7

I think they no longer have any honesty or integrity. Unlike in the past when they at least tried to cover up their lies. Today they do what they want and don't seem to care about anything but enriching themselves. We really have to get rid of the whole bunch.

Answer 8

People are more aware than they used to be so the Politicians have started lying more so they can keep everything the same.

However, there has always been propoganda.

Answer 9

I would somewhat agree, because it wasn't until Reagan's presidency there were more politicians than lobbyist in DC, during his presidency until now--lobbyist outnumber politicians.

The sad news any time people of office try to stop this kind of influence from lobbyist, they are slapped with censoring of freedom of speech.

Answer 10

These people are out for themselves and have very little regard to what we think. I would think they are LESS trustworthy than an itv phone in.