In the fevered aftermath of World War II, Cold War liberals like Karl Popper, Isaiah Berlin, and Richard Crossman built an intellectual fortress around the "Open Society." Their villain? Plato – that ancient architect of the "Noble Lie" in The Republic, a mythic glue to bind Kallipolis's castes with tales of golden souls and earthly lots. To them, this was the seed of totalitarianism: Plato begat Hegel, Hegel begat Marx, Marx begat Stalin. The East was "closed" – a monolithic cage of coercion and Stakhanovite drudgery. The West? Open, pluralistic, miniskirts, LP-spinning truth-tellers. No lies here, comrades – just liberty.
It was flattering. It was seductive. And, as James Alexander nails in his blistering critique, it was the original Noble Lie of the Open Society: the claim that we don't need Noble Lies. COVID-19 shattered the illusion like a brick through stained glass. Lockdowns, masks, "two weeks to flatten the curve," vaccine mandates – all enforced with nudge-unit psyops and pharma propaganda that would make Stalin blush. The Open Society slammed shut, revealing its foundational deceit: We lied about not lying.
But here's the twist that turns Plato's ghost incandescent with rage: Today's elite lies aren't noble. They're ignoble – not mythic binders holding society together, but instrumental policy hammers smashing energy, borders, health, and truth itself. Net Zero? Undermine grids to "save" them. Mass immigration? Dissolve cohesion to "enrich" it. Pandemic protocols? Ruin immunity to "protect" it. These aren't constructive fictions justifying why some rule and others toil. They're destructive inversions – Satanic policy lies that commit us to stupidity on steroids, all while elites pretend their order floats on pure transparency.
Plato, at least, was honest about the dishonesty. Our vapid overlords? They lie more evilly because they won't admit politics demands myth. As Alexander argues, we're not progressing beyond Plato – we're regressing into a Hard Place where Truth collapses into 'Truth' (IPCC's, WHO's, DEI's), and the Noble Lie devolves into policy poison.
Popper's 1945 The Open Society and Its Enemies indicted Plato's Noble Lie – the Myth of the Metals – as the original sin of closed societies. Tell the guardians they're gold-souled, warriors silver, producers bronze/iron, and voilà: Hierarchical harmony. Berlin echoed: Plato's obsession with "oneness" crushed pluralism. Crossman's 1939 Plato Today framed him as proto-fascist. The subtext? Soviets lie for control; we debate freely in flares.
This binary flattered the West into complacency. No need for myths – we're empirical, scientific, open. Yet, as Alexander spells the paradox:
1.Open Society = No Noble Lie (by definition).
2.But it is based on a Noble Lie: That it's not based on lies.
3.Ergo: The lie that sustains openness is the denial of lying.
COVID was the inversion moment, weaponised to close society overnight. Nudge units (UK's BIT, US analogues) deployed fear porn: "Protect Granny," "Flatten the Curve." Pharma's "safe and effective" mantra ignored early treatments, excess deaths, and VAERS signals. Debt exploded; freedoms evaporated. The Open Society confessed: We lie when convenient.
Post-1989, with no Soviet foil, elites scrambled for new myths. Clinton's triangulations, Blair's WMDs – warm-ups. The big three emerged stealthily (boiling frog style):
These aren't Plato's "pure politics" – myths explaining why we cohere (rich/poor, ruler/ruled). They're "impure" policy lies forcing destructive action: Sicilian expeditions on steroids, but with Boris Johnson's hair and Ed Miliband's bacon sandwiches.
David Lay Williams's 2013 paper (History of Political Thought) spotlights Plato's arc. In The Republic: Yes to Noble Lie – guardians know the good, so myth herds the masses. By The Laws (Plato's "realistic" swan song): No. Why? Doubt in any class's monopoly on truth. If experts aren't reliably wiser, we're all in the same boat – equal under law, sustained by truth, not lies.
Irony? Pessimism about elite wisdom births optimism about egalitarian truth-telling. No sheep-herding myths; just transparent laws. Plato confronts the Rock/Hard Place: Politics needs cohesion (lie?) but craves truth (which undermines lies).
Our elites? Stuck in Republic-mode denial. They act like guardians (Fauci as philosopher-king) but won't admit the lie. Result: Ignoble Lies – not binding, but breaking.
Plato's Noble: Constructive myth (Myth of Er justifies afterlife justice). Hurts ego, not economy.
Ours Ignoble: Policy hammers. Net Zero isn't "why we're stratified" – it's "sacrifice prosperity for Gaia." Immigration isn't caste glue – it's "import voters/clients, export cohesion." COVID wasn't soul-myth – it was "jab or job loss."
Plato's lies preserve order without mandating stupidity. Ours commit us: Trillions on windmills that freeze in Texas; borders as sieves spiking crime 20-50% in EU cities; vaccines with negative efficacy against transmission yet mandated.
Follow the logic – it's diabolical:
1.Energy: Blackouts in California/UK "transition" us to reliability? Germany shutters nuclear for Russian gas... then Net Zero.
2.Borders: Sweden's no-go zones, UK's grooming scandals "enrich" culture? Elites fly private while preaching diversity.
3.Health: Lockdowns caused 3x more deaths than COVID in some models; kids' learning loss = generational theft; vaccines linked to myocarditis surges – all to "save lives."
These invert means/ends. Plato's lie: "You're bronze-souled for harmony." Ours: "Freeze in dark for planet." The lie isn't noble (ennobling) – it's debasing, turning policy into self-harm ritual.
Elites lack Plato's/Machiavelli's candour. Machiavelli: Prince must seem virtuous but lie when needed. Our princes (Schwab, Gates, Starmer) proclaim "Build Back Better" while building back worse. They believe their order is lie-free – so lies proliferate unchecked.
2020-22 was the stress test. "15 days" became years. Dissent = misinformation. Great Barrington Declaration? Smeared. Lab leak? "Conspiracy" until... proven. Excess deaths post-vax? Crickets.
Nudge propaganda: Behavioral Insights Team's fear ads (dying alone), Australia's "arm that saves lives." Pharma's $100B haul. All while Sweden (minimal lies/lockdowns) fared better.
This wasn't cohesion-myth. It was control-policy – ignoble because it acted, ruining lives/economies without Platonic justification.
We're post-Open Society. Elites decay into overt myth-making without nobility. Solution?
1.Platonic Candour: Admit politics needs myths – make them noble (national stories, not policy suicide).
2.Laws-Level Truth: Ditch expert-class arrogance. If no one knows "the good" better, govern transparently – no Net Zero without debate, no mandates without data.
3.Reject Inversion: Policy lies destroy. Pure politics binds.
Plato progressed: From lie (Republic) to truth (Laws). We regress: From pretended truth (Cold War) to destructive lies (now).
The Open Society's Noble Lie is dead. Long live honest politics – or watch ignoble ones burn it all.
James Alexander (see below) is right: Blame Popper, not Plato. Our elites lie evilly because they won't admit lying.