As our government becomes more and more polarized, what can we do to ensure that facts and data hold out?
I’m not suggesting that lying should be illegal (in fact, it’s often unintentional), but when an MPs statement can later be proven to be false, shouldn’t they be forced to publicly apologize?
The truth shouldn’t be political.
By definition lying is stating something that the speaker knows to be untrue (or in case of lying through omission, knowingly saying something that is true, but not the whole story).
So how do you unintentionally lie?
Are you sure you’re not confusing “unintentional lie” with “erroneous”?
No. It is true that a lie is something one knows to be untrue. And lying is defined as the present participle of lie. But lying is additionally defined as “not telling the truth”. It turns out words can have multiple meanings, and the latter definition is not dependent on the speaker being aware of its untruthfulness.
If we were talking about speakers telling lies, there would be merit to what you say, but since we are talking about lying, that is not a necessary precondition. By definition, not telling the truth, even if erroneously, is, in fact, lying – although it is not telling a lie.