At one time almost everyone could remember seeing an old film clip of Adolf Hitler, the maniacal and homicidal leader of Nazi Germany, seemingly dancing a little jig. He was, I believe, filmed as he received the news of France’s surrender early in World War II. The newsreel clip showed the German misleader skipping up and down in an effeminate and disgusting manner. The clip seemed to tell the whole world what a wretched villain he was. That conclusion was, of course, very true. But we know now that Hitler was not dancing. The newsreel was a phony.
Wanting to discredit “der Fuhrer” and make him unpopular in the eyes of the world, the film editor “looped” the film at the critical point. Hitler really made only one slight jumping motion, but the film editor looped the film of that jumping motion several times so that it recurred. What was originally only a sort of “flinch” became a famous and purely fictitious jig.
As I read the story of this little historical “footnote,” I found it interesting. The original perpetrator of the small hoax admitted his deception. Of course, none of us feels sorry for Hitler. None of us cares much that the film was misleading. So what was the harm?
Truth was harmed.
Even if “our side” is firmly in the right, we are never justified in editing facts or modifying truth. At times we are tempted to “help” the truth and various good causes along. In journalism this is called “slanting” the news. Sometimes people use that approach with motives that are good—to spare others’ feelings or to protect a cherished belief—but twists of the truth, slanted views, and “doctored up” spin tactics always backfire and become self-defeating.
It’s interesting that the writers of Scripture are always careful to tell the whole truth about even the men and women who seem most heroic. Thus God has not glossed over the adultery and murder committed by King David. The Almighty did not omit from the account the various failures of Moses, the lying of Abraham, or the deceit of Jacob, but somehow all these biblical heroes come down to us as models of the truth. The blemishes in their lives only serve to highlight the focus of their lives and to recommend living in the truth as going hand in hand with “living in the light.”
So the next time you are tempted to “fix something up,” to make something appear better than it is, to shine something up which is not really shiny at all, remember this little commandment: “Thou shalt not loop.”