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A Year in the "No-Lie Zone" A Man's Attempt to Live With Truth

October 9, 2008

A British man is attempting to live in a "no-lie" zone for 12 months -- and he is already six months into his "Kantian" project. But is it really possible to live for a year without lying?

By Dan Bloom

MADRID,Spain(RUSHPRNEWS)10/09/2008-- Newspapers these days are full of unchecked and under-reported stories that later turn out to be not true. People call up or email a reporter and tell them they are going to do such and such, an incredible feat, and then the reporter duly writes the story up and it goes live on the Web for all the world to read, and then later, one never knows if the story panned out. Because the newspapers never publish a followup article.

Remember the man in Australia who was going to sell his life on Ebay? Turned out it never happened. Remember the American woman who claimed she cloned her dead dog into five new puppies in South Korean lab? It never happened that way, and the woman left Seoul in some kind of strange media shame without bring any of those cute puppies back to America with her.

But both of those "news" stories made worldwide headlines. No followup in the papers, however. That's the kind of media landscape we live in today.

About ten percent of what we read in the newspapers these days turns out to be "fake" news. Unchecked news. News that was never fact-checked.

It's easy to spin a story. You hire a good PR agent, he or she "plants' the story in an unsuspecting newspaper in Britain or Canada or the USA, and the blogosphere picks it up. Then, in just a few short paragraphs, a new world-historial hero artist is born. Some of these stories even make it to Hollywood. Others die a garbaged, fish-wrapper death.

Here's a cute story I stumbled upon the other day. It has only been reported in one print newspaper so far, a kind of left wing philosophical newspaper one might say. The newspaper in Britain, which shall go nameless for now

-- and the UK is famous for publishing "fake" news stories that later turn out to be completely untrue -- although they make for good reading! -- this progressive newspaper in London is now reporting that a bloke in Spain, but a British bloke, is six months into a project in which he will go a whole year without lying.

A noble cause, a noble project.

His name is Cathal Morrow. He's got a nice website, too.

Mr Morrow, 43, married to a beautiful Spanish woman and with two small children to support, says he plans to write a book about his year-long experiment, and he has already thought of a title: "The Complete Kant." As in Immanuel Kant, the philosopher who was very philosophical about truth and lying.

Of course, the newspaper story does tell us that Mr Morrow does not have a "publisher" yet for his book-in-progress, while in fact, I had numerous exchanges with the publisher, but who cares about those small details. The "news value" of this "no-lie zone" story is paramount here.

It's a great story: "The philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that telling lies was always morally wrong. But is it possible to live without telling a single lie for a whole year?" writes reporter Duncan Campbell in his first paragraph of the story. "That is the task that Cathal Morrow has set himself and he will let us know next year if it is possible, when he has finished his book on the experiment, to be called 'The Complete Kant'."

Movie rights, anyone? Sell the idea to Hollywood? But will it pan out? That's the US$64,000 question, minus inflation.

RushPRnews was told during the interview that Morrow used to be the managing director of an IT recruitment company, but quit to write a novel. Now he's in a unique "no-lie" zone for a year.

A private equity company in Europe, run by Edward Fitzpatrick, of the Thaler Fund, has agreed to finance Morrow for a year and help him on his way. Two quarterly payments have already been sent his way, according to a source deep within this story.

The book already has a first chapter, literary agents can read it and bid for the publishing rights, movie agents can come calling, it's all in the cards.

Mr Morrow even has a blog where he explains his Kantian mission: "The philosopher Immanuel Kant said that lying was always morally wrong.

I am attempting to go a whole year without telling a single lie. But much more than that I'm looking for some kind of truth to keep me going for the next 40 years or so, and to pass on to my kids.
Karl Marx said -- and I misquote -- 'Philosophy is bollocks because it doesn't change anything.' I disagree. I think it may well be able to give me the direction I so desperately need.
Well, that's the plan anyway. As is to turn my journey into a book. "

It's an interesting story. A man living in a ''no-lie'' zone for a year.

Married with kids. His funding sponsor wrote to me, after I inquried about the situation, and Mr Fitzpatrick noted: "Thank you for the kind mail, Emmanuelle Kant. It appears that since so many people have an issue with the simple truth, our project shows the importance of the study and the subsequent book. I am glad you find the topic of interest and look forward to your thoughts when you have read the book next year."

And he added: "We have paid two quarterly payments so far to Mr Morrow, and he is now six months into his "no-lie zone", as you put it. Unless the current global credit crunch also destroys all paper sources and printing presses, I can confidently say we will publish his book and push for whatever spin off comes our way, whether we seek it or thought of it. Thanks again for you interest. We are all excited."

See Mr Morrow's blog for the "no-lie zone" here:
http://thecompletekant.com

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About the author: Dan Bloom is a RushPRnews political and environmental news columnist/reporter and a freelance writer from Boston, who has been based in Asia since 1991. He graduated from Tufts University in 1971 and has worked in media, public relations and education in several countries. He is currently doing research on climate change and global warming as the founder of the Polar Cities Research Institute. Write him at danbloom@RushPRnews.com

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