We depend on each other for every fact we cannot directly apprehend, yet all human testimony must be held at some level of doubt. Stories always improve. Moreover, everything on television is a lie.Photo by: flash.pro
From Politico:
Alas, the human tendency to juice our stories is universal, and it’s a temptation that some journalists find impossible to resist. When we tell our personal stories, we tend to add dramatic pauses that will build suspense. In each retelling, we tend to incorporate into it the reactions of the last audience, escalating the drama that got a good reaction, tamping down the events that dragged, and making up stuff to further engage our audiences. We supplement and reshape our stories both subconsciously and deliberately, because there is no public shame like the public shame that follows the telling of a boring tale. If don’t think you don’t do the same with your favorite stories, ask your spouse or siblings. They’ll happily regale you with your entertaining exaggerations.
The map is not the territory, but every work of the mind is a map. Your trust in your own mind emerges not from your inherent trustworthiness, but rather from your being unable to escape the consequences of your errors. The farther removed the storyteller is from the consequences of any misrepresentation of fact, the less likely the story is to be reliable.
That’s a rule of thumb, alike unto avoiding shrubbery with red berries in the wilderness, but my solace is here:
I am not the least bit surprised to learn that Brian Williams is full of shit. Are you?
