TRUE LIES

DISINFORMATION in the INFORMATION AGE

03-11-98

If we look for concrete current examples of the dual nature of things suggested by traditions like the TAO, then a possible candidate might be:

"Since we currently live in the INFORMATION AGE, we must also be living in the AGE of DISINFORMATION ".

As never before, we seem to tolerate little white lies, various shades of gray lies and half-truths, and ultimately, THE BIG LIE. We are apparently doing this voluntarily. It's not a case of someone coercing us to 'Believe it or Else! ' as might be the case in a TOTALITARIAN SOCIETY.

As a result, POLITICIANS, THE MEDIA, SCHOOLS, LAWYERS, JUDGES, EXPERT WITNESSES, PSEUDO and JUNK SCIENTISTS, SELF PROCLAIMED GURUS of VARIOUS SORTS, and legions of OTHERS (add your own examples) are pushing the envelope of how much LYING they can get away with.

Part of the problem might be that we don't recognize LYING when we hear/see it.

First of all, we face obfuscation on the subject of what an appropriate BOTTOM LINE i.e. DEPENDENT VARIABLE should be in a particular situation. Even if we have settled on an appropriate DEPENDENT VARIABLE, we are subtly being discouraged from looking critically at empirical data as evidence for CAUSE and EFFECT, and encouraged to take someone's word for it instead. The same call for critical scrutiny is also applicable to issues dealing with prediction (SEE DATELINE 01/03/98 PREDICTIONS and PROGNOSTICATIONS: NEWSLETTER).

We are also being encouraged to use naive, and in many cases false models of how things work. A typical case in point is the false linear model (i.e. if something is GOOD then more of it will ALWAYS be BETTER). There are sometimes alternative models that are more appropriate (SEE DIMINISHING RETURNS).

It might also be useful to know the techniques that purveyors of information typically use to distort information to suit their own ends (SEE INFORMATION PLEASE).

A second part of the problem might be that we don't care. The ACLU recently took a school to task because part of its stated objectives included the ' Pursuit of TRUTH '. This barely caused a ripple of comment.