When I heard that our government has secretly paid Iraqi reporters and newspapers to report good news about the war, it only made me wonder how bad the real news must be.
That's the trouble with pay-for-good-press schemes; the truth has a nagging little way of coming out, causing more damage than the chicanery gained.
As a former Army public information specialist, I'm hardly naive about the strategic uses of propaganda. But your propaganda is severely neutralized if people don't even believe you when you're telling the truth.
Trust in democracy requires a trust not only in the public's right to know the truth, but also an abiding faith in their baloney detectors. Truth inevitably comes out, in true democracies, and once you lose your credibility, it's hard to get it back. Just ask Armstrong Williams.
My "baloney detector", a nicer word than I would have used, has been runnin' full bore with its overspeed shut-off wired open for five years. It's runnin' fine. I'm glad to see other folks' units comin' on line. It's past time.
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