People make false statements either unintentionally or deliberately. A false statement made unintentionally is due to a sincere but mistaken belief. A false statement made deliberately is called a lie, and is intended to deceive those for whom such statement is intended.

Many of us have the unfortunate habit of assuming that if a person makes a statement that is not true, then that person is lying. More often than not, we are making an unfair judgment, because that person is not lying if they believed that their statement is true.

You can argue that the person is not sincere and is therefore lying, but you have to back up that claim with a reasonable, logical argument. You also have to ask yourself: Why would someone make that statement if it were not true?

President Bush did not tell the truth regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which caused the loss of so many American lives. Some accused him of lying for partisan reasons, but most believed that the president of the United States would not lie to the American people in order to start a war.

Hillary Clinton did not tell the truth regarding her emails. The immediate response was that she was a liar.

Did her accusers or members of the press consider the possibility that she truly believed her statements were true at the time she made them?

Did they pay attention to FBI Director James Comey’s comment that “we don’t want to put people in jail unless we prove that they knew they were doing something they shouldn’t do”?

Did they really believe that the secretary of state would deliberately tell a falsehood to a congressional committee?

Hillary admitted her mistakes, but by not giving these questions fair consideration, her honesty and character were severely damaged.

Richard Schmitt

Falmouth

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