The Persistence of Memory

Here's a well-known quote: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." It comes from Joseph Goebbels, the man in charge of propaganda for the Nazis, and despite its origins it retains power because of its truth. Goebbels' quote continues to talk about the power of the State, but in that he was short-sighted. In truth, only because the State and the media were the same entity under Hitler was the remainder of his statement accurate. The true power of a lie to gain hold in the minds of the populace does not come from its political leaders, but in the repetition of the lie by the information sources trusted by the people.

But, the media are important. It is impossible for people to gather all, or even any significant amount, of activity in the world around them without news purveyors, and the best of the arts, whether comedy or drama, allow insight into the reactions and lives of people. Moreover, different people, seeing the same event, often recall it in different ways. There is huge value to a simple, dispassionate listing of events free of individual interpretations.

So, as mentioned in a previous post, it's important to find multiple sides of an issue. That works well for contemporary things. But there's something equally important, and that's remembering when and why you found fault with a particular statement or opinion produced by someone in the media... especially a source you trust... because in the future, that error will often be used as a foundation to bolster later statements.

When you catch someone in the media lying, try to set it aside in your mind. If you're like most people, you'll usually fail to remember it later when it comes up again... as pointed out, people's memories are both amazingly huge and consistently flawed... but with any luck there will be a nagging doubt which will cause you to go and check the "facts" again.

The only way to prevent lies from becoming generally accepted as truth is to beat them back not just when they first appear, but when others try to use them in the future. Which is why this is the first post of the day, and a shorter than normal one: because it leads into the second.