# Famous lies througout history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582 "2003-11-16T20:18:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/21 "2003-11-17T04:16:22Z")
The British lies to Feisal regarding the aftermath of the ME after WWI, considering the long lasting implications I think it deserves a place on the Big Lies Througout History List. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/22 "2003-11-17T05:06:07Z")
“Citizens of Troy: I present you with this huge wooden horse, as a token of peace between our two countries.” ---
**Author:** ![robo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@robo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo99)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/23 "2003-11-17T07:00:19Z")
The Extinction of the Buffalo? Maybe I’m just an ignorant fool but if I hadn’t seen them in person myself I would still have believed that they were all gone. I’ve never read a book or seen a documentary which mentions them in anything other than “now they are gone” terms. In fact, just the other day I saw a Burns documentary of the West and again it implied that there are no more Buffalo. There are plenty of wild Buffalo out West. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/24 "2003-11-17T07:47:15Z")
It’s just a shower. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/25 "2003-11-17T07:58:52Z")
There is no single factual answer, so the question isn’t really a GQ. Since it seems to have developed into a debate, I’ll move the thread to GD. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/26 "2003-11-17T09:04:24Z")
_The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion_, which purport to be a comprehensive plan and conspiracy for a Jewish takeover of the world, have been used to persecute Jews since the days of Czarist Russia. They were used to justify pogroms, ghettos and ultimately the Holocaust, and are still believed by gullible Jew-haters and used by cynical anti-Semites who know better. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/27 "2003-11-17T11:51:51Z")
**I’m from the government and I’m here to help you!** Some Asshole ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/28 "2003-11-17T12:28:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robo99 \* > \*\*The Extinction of the Buffalo? > > Maybe I’m just an ignorant fool but if I hadn’t seen them in person myself I would still have believed that they were all gone. I’ve never read a book or seen a documentary which mentions them in anything other than “now they are gone” terms. In fact, just the other day I saw a Burns documentary of the West and again it implied that there are no more Buffalo. There are plenty of wild Buffalo out West. \*\* You’re certainly not an ignorant fool! But I don’t think this counts as a lie. In school in the early 80s, I learned that the buffalo came back. I think histories of the West, such as Burns’s documentary, tend to focus on the effect that the near-extinction of the buffalo had on Western culture without bothering to slip in a parenthetical “By the way, they made a miraculous comeback in the mid-1900s.” Anyway, would “Jews eat Christian babies” count as a lie, or be more in the realm of folklore? It started the ball rolling on persecution long before the _Protocols_ were dreamt up. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/29 "2003-11-17T12:31:27Z")
Re. the Belgrano. Despite the [confession](http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,963155,00.html): > [@](#): > > Captain Héctor Bonzo also admits that, far from retreating from the British Task Force as he sailed west with two accompanying destroyers, his change of direction was a temporary manoeuvre. This (and the facts) are in direct contradiction with Thatcher’s assertion that: > [@](#): > > It was not sailing away from the Falklands From [RealVideo](http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/38490000/rm/_38490835_3046_24-05-83_56ka1_vi.ram) of the Diane Gould interview. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/30 "2003-11-17T14:34:21Z")
Some great lies would be what the Romans must have promised their neighbors… then what the Spaniards promised the Aztecs and Incas… ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/31 "2003-11-17T14:47:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robo99 \* > There are plenty of wild Buffalo out West. Far from plenty, more than there were, but very, very, extremely very far from the plenty that once were. Do they stretch from horizon to horizon, going back towards the horizon as far as you can see? ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/32 "2003-11-17T14:48:27Z")
My favorite lies were the following: The man who never was: False intelligence planted with a corpse. Garbo: The great false spy who fed the Nazis a lot of great lies. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/33 "2003-11-17T14:55:58Z")
What about the fake information the Allies planted on a dead body to fool the Germans into believing that the invasion of Normandy would take place elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/34 "2003-11-17T15:00:29Z")
_shakes fist at **Dogface** _ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/35 "2003-11-17T15:17:18Z")
Not the worst but one of the most common: “I was just about to do that.” ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/36 "2003-11-17T15:47:22Z")
The existence of the Social Security Trust Fund or statements claiming we are dipping into it. There are no funds in trust, only trust in the fund. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/37 "2003-11-17T17:55:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rashak Mani \* > \*\*Some great lies would be what the Romans must have promised their neighbors… then what the Spaniards promised the Aztecs and Incas… \*\* Oh, I think the Romans’ neighbors knew EXACTLY what they were getting into. That’s why they fought tooth and nail most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/38 "2003-11-17T19:03:34Z")
> [@](#): > > What about the fake information the Allies planted on a dead body to fool the Germans into believing that the invasion of Normandy would take place elsewhere? The “Man Who Never Was” was planted to mislead the Germans from the invasion of Sicily, not Normandy. Of course, we used a much more elaborate deception plan to convince them that Calais was the true target of Operation Overlord. ---
**Author:** ![Insecta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3da27b/32.png) [@Insecta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Insecta)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/39 "2003-11-17T19:12:26Z")
Cecil Rhodes’ claim that the natives of Southern Rhodesia attacked his men, when really he had orchestrated it so that his own men faked an attack on his own men. Hitler’s use of the same tactic a third of a century later, used as justification for invading Poland. While we’re on Hitler: “Peace in our time.” - His statement assuring Britain that Hitler would remain ‘peaceful’. “Don’t worry Stalin - we won’t attack you.” - His peace pact with the Soviet ‘untermenschen’ Union ---
**Author:** ![ShoNuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@ShoNuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShoNuff)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582/40 "2003-11-17T20:18:18Z")
What about the glorious lies in the Books of Bokonon? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-lies-througout-history/213582.md?page=3)