How Do You Tell When a Child Is Lying?

Read this:

“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation… That played a very large role into this.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s aide, Melissa DeRosa, in a private call to Democrats in the New York State Assembly, explaining why the Cuomo administration released false numbers about the number of COVID deaths in the state’s nursing homes. The call was later leaked.

You can tell a child is lying when:

  1. The child does not want to take responsibility.
  2. What the child is saying makes no sense, is a series of run-together sentences, includes “you guys,” and blames a bogeyman. The evil Justice Department.
  3. The child does not realize that the story being told gives the reason the child lied in the first place.
  4. The explanation the child gives is different from explanations given previously.
  5. The child originally told a whopper.

Then, to add whipped cream and a cherry on top of a spinning frenzy of a stream of conscience, the child adds, “Basically, we froze.” Then the child apologizes to the wrong people for the wrong thing. So, of course, Ms. DeRosa apologized to the Democrats in the New York State Assembly, “So, we do apologize. I do understand the position that you were put in. I know that it is not fair. It was not our intent to put you in that political position with the Republicans.” 

Ms. LaRosa’s public explanation was different from the phone call explanation. The public explanation put the bogeyman of our times, Donald Trump, as the real problem. Donald Trump’s Justice Department made them do it because Mr. Trump was questioning nursing home admission mandates in several states. As much as a child wants to blame someone else, the blame must go back to the root cause.

Mr. Trump was raising the nursing home mandates not as a political but in response to reports from medical experts about the March 25 Cuomo mandate. That follow-the-science-mandate seems to have been flexible. Dr. Elaine Healy, a clinician, an experienced medical director, and an officer in an association of nursing homes in New York sent information to the Wall Street Journal on March 25 2020 about the Cuomo mandate for nursing homes to admit COVID-positive patients. Dr. Healy was contacting everyone she could to stop the madness of the mandate. Dr. Healy contacted radio host Mark Levin to disclose the mandate. Mr. Levin, so shocked, initially accused her of being a hoax call.

By May, the Wall Street Journal ran a full story on the real damage the Cuomo policy was causing. Despite FOIA requests, no one could get the New York Department of Health to release the real death numbers. The growing outrage, spearheaded by weatherperpson Janice Dean, who lost two family members in nursing homes to COVID, continued. In August 2020, New York’s Attorney General began an investigation. That report was released just weeks ago with the stunning truth — the number of nursing home deaths in New York City was understated by 40-50%. (See February 1, 2021 post)

Governor Cuomo responded, “But who cares? 33 [percent]. 28 [percent]. Died in a hospital. Died in a nursing home. They died.” A child does not process harm to others — only the harm to himself that will result if he tells the truth. A child does not process his role in the harm. Again, the child is focused on immediate harm to himself, not damage to others.

The families who lost loved ones are owed an apology. Absent governmental immunity, the damages owed to the loved ones, not only being for being kept in the dark but being kept away from their loved ones just when they were most needed, would induce salivation in class-action lawyers. The families, who were COVID-free, were not permitted into these nursing homes to be with their loved ones. These dear souls ended their earthly sojourn alone. As a comedian noted, “In New York, you had to have COVID to get into a nursing home.”

What happened in New York is a tragedy beyond description. The measure of the character of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable. There is one more measure: What s society does when it learns of abuse of the most vulnerable. The real number of deaths was 15,000. The number the Cuomo administration reported was 8,671. This was one heck of a whopper.

What now? One wants o scream, “Enough with the politics! Grow up!” Sadly, the children are still in charge, weaving more tales and spinning more yarns. Society weeps, both for its losses and at the reflection in the mirror of a society that has sunk to a new low.

About mmjdiary

Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD. The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards. Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio. She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News. In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles. Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
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