re: #109 freetoken

It should be pretty clear by now that we (humans) are highly skilled at lying, and that this skill is itself an evolutionary adaptation.

Anyway, determining the “truth”, or reality, takes effort and skill as well.

Culture does matter here, by which I mean a society’s acceptance for public debate about topics.

In our culture the “press” - a term now disembodied of its original meaning courtesy of the internet and the demise of newspapers - is expected to search for the truth, and publish such as “news”, while opinions are expected to be labeled as such.

However, the art of the headline writer has been so refined that a headline can be interpreted in whatever manner the reader wishes.

No better example can be found that the news today about Mr. Nakoula. For example, this headline:

APNewsBreak: California man behind anti-Muslim film arrested on probation violation

Those who are not aware of the details of Mr. Nakoula’s life can believe, and in certain circles will believe, that the US (specifically California) arrested Nakoula because he “insulted” the prophet of Islam, that his film was “anti-Muslim”.

Shit, I was worried about that. It’s not going to look good.