Usage in Hitler's Psychological Profile
The phrase was also used in a report prepared during the war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler's psychological profile:
His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.
However, according to Michael C. Moynihan (Sept. 7, 2012) in Tablet Magazine, it has become common in contemporary US politics to criticize an opponent for being guilty of using the idea of the Big Lie. Moynihan's main point there is that it is misleading and incorrect to imply that any such opponent is therefore somehow "similar to" or "analogous to" (hint: think "as bad as") either Hitler or Goebbels. ("See also" Godwin's law.)
Read more about this topic: Big Lie
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