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2023-02-20

I'm somewhat belatedly catching up with some of the stuff I should have posted previously, and this one is both a reminder of what we have been through in recent times, and a useful introduction to a term with which we should probably become familiar (if we are not already).

Yes, making sense of life on earth is turning out to be a far trickier task that most of us ever imagined!

Each of us constructs our own image of reality "inside our heads", and I'd wager that no two such images are identical. When we discuss topics on which our respective images clash, either argument ensues or agreement to differ is required.

One problem is that we don't all create our images using the same information and methodology. Sources of information are consulted but not necessarily verified for accuracy, depending upon the perceived risk of damage to ourselves and/or our plans should inaccuracy turn out to be the case. If we have to catch a train to go and see our auntie, we are likely to verify the timetable, but if we merely read that big bad mad Vlad is indiscriminately bombing civilians somewhere remote to ourselves, then unless we have a very particular interest (such as relatives) in that remote location, we are unlikely to bother verifying.

There is good reason for this - there are only so many hours in the day and we couldn't feasibly verify every nugget of information that comes our way even if we (a) knew how and (b) had the motivation.

Those who would deceive us know this full well. Yes they work on us by direct deceit, and importantly they work to deliver their deceitful message by apparently separate routes so that prima facie verification is (erroneously) established; but when found out in their deceit they also work with our limited ability to recall or perceive the full story in order to effect damage limitation.

Here's another glaring example. A former minister is being pursued for the totally trivial matter of a stolen kiss, rather than action that he took that allegedly led to the deaths of many in institutional care (his guilt or innocence here is yet to be established in court and is not relevant to this article, which is concerned with distraction from the wider picture).

There is a reason why governments are known for "incompetence" rather than mendacity, and certainly never for intentional institutional corruption.

Yet certain sections of government may be labelled as "institutionally racist" with deliberate intent if that would serve a purpose.