Here is a quote from Charles Seife’s book, Proofiness: “Whether it’s the savings
and loan scandal or Enron or the subprime mortgage crisis, the end is always
the same. The people who are willing to lie about risks make themselves very
rich, and the taxpayers suffer the consequences. Even if one or two of the
malefactors wind up in jail, there are always many others who made themselves
much better off at others’ expense and never suffered any serious consequences.”
When will we stop getting tricked? When will we stop
believing the evangelicals and conservatives, after their repeated lies? It
goes back a long time. The Reagan administration lied about Russians testing
nuclear weapons bigger than the existing treaty allowed by leaking it to New York
Times, which published it, and many people still believe it, even though it has
been shown to be a lie. The Bush II Administration did the same thing about supposed
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the 2003 invasion. In both cases, according
to Seife, it was the same people who whipped up the lies: Richard Perle in the
government and Judith Miller at the Times.
No matter how many times the evangelicals and the
Republicans get caught lying, they will keep doing it and most people will keep
believing them.
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