You Don't Want the Truth

I'm so naive.

In this, the Misinformation Age, I keep thinking that if only everyone would dig a little deeper, we could find some common ground.  Then we would spend less time throwing mud and more time discussing truth (or objective, verifiable reality, if your bad postmodern self doesn't like that other word).   

Then I heard this piece from NPR's Ari Shapiro.  It's 4:39 long, so feel free to indulge your curiosity. Warning: if this link doesn't work, you may need to search the Morning Edition page on July 25.

As it turns out, many of us don't give a rat's tuckus about the truth.  We're actually pretty content to be lied to.

I almost choked on my doughnut when I heard this section near the end:

SHAPIRO: This effort to dig down to the true meaning of a candidate's comments rests on a few assumptions. Most basically it assumes that truth matters. It assumes that people want to know what a candidate actually said and meant. It assumes that distortions are bad. In fact, behavioral psychologist Dan Ariely of Duke says those assumptions may be false. He's author of "The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: Why We Lie to Everybody, Especially Ourselves."

DAN ARIELY: And we recently did a study on this. We just asked a few hundred people online to what extent they think that their candidates could be dishonest if it promoted their political agenda.

SHAPIRO: He found that people were totally comfortable with politicians of their own party being dishonest to get elected.

ARIELY: And by the way, for Democrats, this was a slightly more endorsed position than for the Republicans. So the Democrats are more willing for their politicians to lie to a higher degree than the Republicans.

Does NPR know that they produced a piece with this information in it?

I couldn't help but think that elections have become lying contests.  Truth doesn't matter.  What really matters in an election is how smoothly the candidate lies.  Dogma rooted in deception.    

Pass the popcorn!