10-15-2018, 11:47 AM
Maybe people are getting wiser to spin, and the last one to lose it will get burned worst. Good reason exists for the honor codes at the military academies "Do not lie, do not cheat, and do not steal, and do not tolerate lying, cheating, and stealing by others". The secret is to not to do the things that might cause one to lie, cheat, or steal to protect a shady behavior. Lying recovers a piling up of lies to protect even a tiny lie. Cheating might get one an undeserved reputation for competence that one does not have and thus get one into a situation for which one is terribly unprepared. Stealing causes necessary assets to disappear. Deceiving an enemy in wartime needs the ring of truth. One might have to raid stores for necessary supplies, but one had better state what one takes to the source.
Spin is lying. We see much of it from the politicians that we have, and it works less well every time that it is tried. Saudi Arabia may not be the worst actor in the world, but it is not an effective liar.
Spin is lying. We see much of it from the politicians that we have, and it works less well every time that it is tried. Saudi Arabia may not be the worst actor in the world, but it is not an effective liar.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.