Johann Sadeler I: Micaiah and the False Prophets (16th-17th century)

"We're not quite there yet."

Since the 1930s, DC Comics character Superman has been presented as a staunch defender of "Truth, Justice, and the American Way." These three pillars of the society I was later born into remained reasonably stable until recently, when another ethic began to enjoy expanding influence. Our incumbent, schooled by the fascist gangster Roy Cohn, embraced a decidedly different American Way. His version rooted itself in falsity and injustice, reframing these as the supporting principles of his newer American Way, if I can even properly characterize falsity and injustice as principles. Our incumbent realized that truth could be effectively neutralized for any purpose by merely dispensing lies. These lies could not succeed if they were tentative. The liar would have to be all in if he intended to succeed. He would need to treat Truth as the ultimate enemy of his brand of democracy. He set about creating an alternate ecosystem where lies could thrive.

In the paper-rock-scissors game that comprises public opinion, the relative truth or fiction of any assertion matters little to the dedicated practitioner. The effectiveness of a statement in swaying opinion and the innate persuasiveness of the public determine the "goodness" of any statement. Its truth or fiction doesn't even warrant consideration. The public's ability to discern truth from fiction became an inhibitor for the practitioner. Better, from their perspective, that the public remain unconcerned about the relative truth of any assertion, that their taste be cultured toward relative sensationalism instead. Goodness could be gauged by monitoring blood pressure. Whatever aroused an animal reaction could be judged effective communication. Mere truth could not compete in this sort of competition.

The ecosystem involved reframing news from reporting various truths into titillating entertainment. Outrage became a prominent component, and dopamine surges became the currency of exchange. Viewers returned again and again like starving hummingbirds anxious for nourishment. They were poisoned, little by little, over time, into requiring that jolt, the provocation that only fiction can properly provide. In a competition between benign truth and addictive fiction, bet on the fiction to prove more satisfying. For those with no particular philosophy, such propaganda became the basis of their values. The prophets of Fox News became the primary conduits of a new truth, a different justice, and a radically different notion of what constitutes the American Way. A shockingly large number of otherwise innocent Americans became addicted to their regular infusions of this public abomination. Our incumbent could never have been elected without this evil ecosystem manifesting.

Those not carrying this addiction to corrosive fiction rightly worry about the viability of any system dependent upon FalseFlags. In almost every case, the truth of whatever our incumbent insists hides in the opposite of what he says. He speaks in mirror images of the facts. I wonder how long any society can survive if its leaders define their successes by the number of absolute untruths they can successfully convince their base to believe. Truth submits to myths; justice, to false witnesses and corrupted judges. The American Way becomes a sorry parody of its former self, aspiring only to take advantage without any sense of obligation to repay or help others. Unable to swallow the truth, we consume absolute poison instead. Sooner or later, it seems, we're likely to die along with our dream.

Basing any system upon FalseFlags seems precarious. Without accurate feedback, any system must go awry. Without reasonably accurate forecasts, a system misses targets. Bullshit explanations only work within limited ranges. Beyond that, the fiction can no longer contain the inevitable questions. Societies founded upon FalseFlags face a similar fate. The initial euphoria experienced when exposed to sensationalism erodes and requires even more sensational follow-ons. Failures accumulate on top of former failures until even the seriously addicted begin to notice. Cynicism replaces the false optimism that sensationalism initially imparts. Eventually, nobody believes in stories told to explain the continually disappointing results. Freedom, once characterized as the right to believe whatever one damned well pleases, gets reframed as the liberty to understand what's happening. Truth experiences a resurgence, and society awakens again from the trance induced through studied untruths. We're not quite there yet.

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