I'll bet many people disagree with me on this topic. As uncomfortable as it may be to admit, you probably do have a right to lie. Simply because no one has a right to forbid it or to initiate force to stop it. It's often a matter of opinion as to what constitutes a lie anyway.
Sometimes, what is characterized as a lie is just someone being wrong. You have a right to be wrong-- you have an obligation to correct it once you know better. That's the hard part for most people, myself included.
I have never fallen for the story that it's wrong to lie to an archator when you're doing so to protect the innocent. That's virtuous. If you lie to a cop. the IRS, or a stormtrooper to protect yourself or others, I'm not going to judge you badly. I may consider you a hero.
There are consequences for lying, though. People have a right to defend themselves from lies that harm them.
I have the right to shun those who lie. If they lie for the wrong reasons and I know about it, I will shun them. Or I'll never trust them again.
Politics is entirely based on someone lying or being wrong. I don't trust people who are being political.
The lie that there exists a right to govern others is a prime example. Regardless of whatever else people may say, that is The Big Lie. Then there are the lies that taxation isn't theft, that police are there to protect your rights, that the military defends your freedom, and that anarchy is chaos. If they can get you to believe the lies, they can cause you to submit to their rule.
What of the possibility that they don't intend to lie? They may merely be wrong if they believed the lies they were fed at a young age.
Once exposed to the truth, if they choose to keep repeating the incorrect information, even if they still believe it, I have less sympathy for their position. I'll probably suspect they could be lying because the truth is too uncomfortable.
One thing I wouldn't do: I wouldn't try to silence them. I would not ask government or corporate censors to silence them on my behalf because they are dangerous. I do think they have a right to lie. I have a right to point out their lies. And I don't have to protect them from the consequences of their lies.
May I request your support?
