The Sad Truth: Lies Often Outshine the Truth

There’s an old Armenian saying, “Coc tzoon e doc chee menar,” meaning “you can’t hide the shit under the snow.” I’ve seen this play out in real life—like watching men in the advertising industry take millions in kickbacks, decades later some did end up in jail. But many others get away with it. So, what do we do about this?

First, let’s get real. Take politics as an example. Both sides can’t be right, yet they say things that are completely opposite. One side claims Trump is authoritarian and will imprison his rivals, while the other says the Democrats are doing just that without cause. Hopefully, I didn’t trigger you too much with that example. The point is to talk about influence, lies, and truth.

Understanding Influence: How Repetition Shapes Beliefs

If your friends believe the opposite of what you do, they aren’t crazy. They may have spent 30 years hearing a different version of events every night on the news. Imagine that—30 years times 365 days. Even if they just watched the news for one minute a day, they’ve heard 10,000 different “facts” than you have.

If you’ve never surfed to an opposing viewpoint, shame on you. What if they watched or listened for 30 minutes or an hour a day? Now, multiply that by 60. It’s entirely possible they’ve been exposed to 100,000 differing facts from you.

The Power of Repetition: Lies vs. Truth

In my industry, I see a big chain of aesthetic providers claiming they are less expensive and more transparent. Yet, after all their “sales” and “bonuses,” their final price is higher than ours. And we are a safe private doctor’s office with decades more experience offering lower, fair transparent pricing without phony untrue sales. It pisses me off that they blatantly lie about their pricing.

So, why are they successful? Because they say it relentlessly. It’s the old adage: Say a lie often enough, and it becomes accepted as truth.

But what about the truth? How often do we need to say it? If someone has already made up their mind after hearing something 10,000 times, or in politics, 100,000 times, or even a million times—can the same number of truthful messages counter it? what about twice as many? I think we all know the answer to that. Once someone is predisposed to an idea, especially if they heard it first, it’s nearly impossible to convince them otherwise.

The First to Market Advantage

This is why the first to market often prevails forever. Just read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Trout and Reis. A few quick examples: First college? Harvard. First cola? Coke. Second is often forgotten or seen as worthless. PS the second college was William and Mary.

The Importance of Critical Thinking

So, what’s the takeaway? Be aware that what you think are truths might not necessarily be true. It might just be something that was repeated so often that you believed it must be true. Use your critical thinking. If you lived 500 years ago, would you have been one of the people who put Galileo on trial for saying the Earth is round?

Common sense is your ally. If something doesn’t pass the smell test, it might be a lie. Trust your gut—the one that has guided you away from bad decisions in the past and encouraged you to pursue your dreams.

A Final Thought: The Snow Will Melt

Don’t waste your energy arguing with people, or even worse yet friends or family, who have an unshakeable belief in something they have heard 100,000 times. You can’t hide the shit under the snow. I just hope the snow melts soon enough for us to see the truth before it’s too late. PS if you remain friends we can all have a good laugh about it in the next few years or decades, assuming we havent all been blown up or fried by global warming.

Final thought. Politics was probably a poor example on my part because it goes right to the core of our deepest wants, according to the Sedona Method. 60% of us or 30% on each side literally believe that the other guy is too weak or too strong and will get you killed.