Sunday, October 05, 2008

shaking off the numbness

Lies and distortions are everywhere around us, so much so that many of us have lost the ability to distinguish between claims that are relatively trustworthy and those that are not. There's so much noise that picking out a real signal can be a daunting task.

Nor is this situation likely to turn around anytime soon, certainly not before the election.

It's up to all of us to rise to the challenge, to put aside our perceptual enervation and peer through the fog to the reality of the choices before us.

If you haven't already, pull your veracity meter out of the closet, dust it off, be merciless in making use of it, and be prepared for a struggle. The art of lying is largely a matter of timely escape, leaving those who would pin liars down looking where they no longer are, their having quickly qualified what they'd said to avoid responsibility for its effect.

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