Stop Lying Through Your Teeth

A western idiom goes like this, “There are none as blind as those who will not see”. We’ve long known that lying through their teeth is the “survival skill” for some American politicians, but we never expected it to become their “only skill left”. Unfortunately, this is exactly the reality now. Their desperate attempt to peddle lies only attests to the exhaustion of their tricks.

 

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of American politicians has staged one farce after another. If they just told a lie every once in a while, they would have given themselves away occasionally; now that there is basically no truth left, the audience could only take them as a circus.

 

But how clumsy the performance is! By declaring that “the virus came from China”, or “China caused the spread of the virus by covering it up”, these American politicians have discarded the basic dignity and decency as humans and public servants. They have spurted baseless accusations without any scruple. In the meantime, some western media have played along and made up accusations in defiance of freedom and democracy that they have been priding themselves on, reducing themselves to the politicians’ bullhorns by politicizing the pandemic and exercising double standards.

 

The truth will teach these contemptible people a hard lesson. Regarding the origin of the virus, China, WHO, and many others with vision have made solemn statements over and over again. The prestigious academic journal Nature apologized to China for once associating the coronavirus with Wuhan. As to the claim that “China caused the spread of the virus by covering it up”, a quick look at the epidemic-control timeline would show who has wasted the time. When looking back on the White House’s epidemic containment efforts, the New York Times pointed out that it squandered a whole month from late January to early March.

 

Certain American politicians are asking for disgrace between telling lies and having them belied. During the Iraq War, the weapons of mass destruction that they had once been so certain about were eventually unaccounted for; during the Syrian conflict, the iron-clad evidence of the attacks with chemical weapons that they claimed proved to be schemed by the politicians themselves. Having been slapped in the face by truth so many times, the American politicians, this time around, are simply repeating their vicious rumors about the pandemic again and again, which, infuriating as it is, comes as no surprise. Their creed is that “a lie, when repeated a thousand times, may become truth”, with which they intend to bring their unspeakable motives into reality - putting a lock on China’s development and clearing themselves of any responsibility for the epidemic response fiasco. What a pipe dream!

 

As another western idiom goes, “Lying is the first step in being a thief.” The COVID-19 outbreak, like a mirror, reflects the American politicians’ heinous true colors of “running the country with lips”. When the outbreak hit, the first move they took wasn’t protecting people’s lives and safety, but babbling to find excuses for themselves and flinging mud at others. They have been trying to deflect people’s attention in an attempt to steal votes from the constituencies and pursue personal gains.

 

“Liars begin by imposing upon others but end deceiving themselves.” It would not be so absurd if the politicians tell a lie or two now and then, but it’s truly shameful and pathetic that they would rely on lies for sustaining their political career. Just recently, when China was busy helping other countries battle the outbreak, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flinging mud at China at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and on other international occasions. Even American scholars couldn’t bear to see such shameless moves on the US part, commenting that Pompeo was busy slandering China while China was busy helping others.

 

The clownish words and deeds of these American politicians have become a laughing stock in the international community. An ancient fable says that a rabbit used to have a long tail, which becomes short because it is bitten off for telling lies. This fable is both informative and remonstrative for the American politicians - stop lying through your teeth, otherwise your personal credibility, political career, and the “America great again” you promise the American people will, like the rabbit’s tail, be cut short for sure.