There are hundreds of examples of the Undiscovered Lie in modern politics and corporate marketing to be fully explored in a blog posting. The subject could be handled in a large printed volume or two say as "A- Li" and "Lo-Z".
There are two corollary parts to the Undiscovered Lie that could also divide the volumes. The one UL is one where the person claims virtue and a special stature in society then is brought down amidst scandal and shame. Just think Josh Duggar, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and those type of people. The other kind are the ones who were given the accolades, stature and notoriety by a corporate entity and they are then destroyed by their actions that nobody was really concerned about when the celebrity status was being exploited. It this version we can list Tiger Woods, Michel Vick, Jared Fogle and Bill Cosby.
In the Swaggart/Bakker situation they claimed righteousness and piety while actually doing the crap that they were preaching against. This makes them hypocrites of the first order. They deserve to be crushed financially and personally for their transgressions. Crying and invoking the alleged forgiveness of their god doesn't cut it. They stole from real people and should have been penalized in a commensurate fashion.
The marketing faces of Vick/Woods/Cosby version they were not preaching their goodness as Christians, Conservatives or virtuous people. The world came to them and conferred the mantle of celebrity on them and handed them millions of dollars for their countenances on products and services. They had no duty to be pure and righteous in their daily lives even though they did some despicable things.
Now I didn't intend to divide the two types along racial lines, it just happened that way. Certainly Anthony Weiner falls into the second group too. Bill Clinton did some sketchy things with Monica Lewinsky in the Whitehouse, while married, but those activities were more scandalous than illegal. While american seemed to want their President to be a pillar of virtue, he had no duty to be so. Now if he has run for the office as the "candidate who never participated in extra-marital affairs or had lust in his heart," then maybe Kenneth Starr might have had a case to press.
Jared Fogle had a long history of sexual indiscretions with children that reportedly dates back to 2008 when at least one business associated notified the Subway franchise food chain management that he was a predatory sex criminal and they chose to not address the claim. Subway will probably bear some financial penalty for that negligence.
Penn State University certainly bears liability for what Coach Joe Paterno did and did not do with his knowledge of what Jerry Sandusky was doing on and off campus with young boys. Both of these men fit into the second category with Vick and Woods. Either claimed virtuousness that they betrayed even as they betrayed the children and parents who assumed that the children would be safe.
The examples indeed could go on a long time but the more important part of the Principle of Imminent Collapse is this. Collapse doesn't mean extinction. Collapse more than not leads to the New Equilibrium. All the grifter-evangelists ultimately make their comeback, sometimes after a stint in prison, and start their game all over again.
Vick is playing football again. Woods is play golf, but not as profitably. Josh Duggar has entered a sex therapy institute where he will pray away the urges. Fogle will have time in a cell to come up with a revised life strategy where he can earn a living again. Bill Clinton seems to have side stepped the legal system and come back stronger than before. The New Equilibrium has been good to Bill.
Now I am not so prudish that I care if a Senator or Representative has an affair or a homosexual encounter. That is not really any of my business. But when they stand behind the mask of respectability and espouse a position that is opposite that position, then it is everyone's business. The Undiscovered Lie has the ability to destroy or at least temporarily hamstring a public figure. After all Jerry Springer was a Cincinnati city councilman when he was caught having paid a prostitute with a personal check. He resigned, got reelected then was successful in his bid for Mayor. He had done far better as a TV show host.
List of Scandals Some qualify as type 1 UL and other type 2.
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