The Global Consumption of Truths and Big Lies in the Epoch of Digital Information Technologies: A Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

This paper asserts that political leaders around the world and the emergence of digital information technologies have contributed remarkably to the amplifications and normalizations of telling big lies, thus the noticeable increase in the global consumption of big lies at varying degrees. To underscore this assertion, this paper uses the theoretical framework of utility maximization to show that human beings, in a world in which “we are all liars,” consume truths and big lies subject to their information constraints. Furthermore, we use the concept of welfare economics to underscore the assertion that truths generate positive externalities, which can lead to outcomes that are social welfare-enhancing while big lies generate negative externalities, which can result in outcomes that are social welfare-retarding. The United States provides an illustrative example of a country where the consumption of big lies may be outpacing the consumption of truths because big lies have become the political philosophy of one of the political parties whose objective is to use big lies as the weapons of democracy destruction.