Thanks for this. I hadn't heard about the New Yorker piece on Hiroshima when I prepared my quiz on Scoops. However, I did mention the only other time the magazine devoted an entire issue to one article, the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador. There too the U.S. government under Reagan denied a massacre took place, and the flow of military aid continued. Unlike Hiroshima though, U.S. media in the 1980s was to its credit more willing to ask questions.
I think all governments - even the well intentioned ones - do end up lying. Now I don’t know why that is but the limited point I would like to make is that citizens shouldn’t get into the habit of thinking the governments they support won’t lie to them.
On another note, is there a more contemporary example for 'objective truth'? The Hiroshima piece had to contend only with the government and a pliant media. Now we are contending with social media as well as people consuming news from separate silos with no overlap often.
The News of the World phone-hacking expose appears to fit the bill
Thanks for this. I hadn't heard about the New Yorker piece on Hiroshima when I prepared my quiz on Scoops. However, I did mention the only other time the magazine devoted an entire issue to one article, the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador. There too the U.S. government under Reagan denied a massacre took place, and the flow of military aid continued. Unlike Hiroshima though, U.S. media in the 1980s was to its credit more willing to ask questions.
I think all governments - even the well intentioned ones - do end up lying. Now I don’t know why that is but the limited point I would like to make is that citizens shouldn’t get into the habit of thinking the governments they support won’t lie to them.
You've heard of the 'Problem of Dirty Hands' in politics? Thought of it in relation to your point that all governments do end up lying
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dirty-hands/
On another note, is there a more contemporary example for 'objective truth'? The Hiroshima piece had to contend only with the government and a pliant media. Now we are contending with social media as well as people consuming news from separate silos with no overlap often.
The News of the World phone-hacking expose appears to fit the bill
https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2011/jul/05/milly-dowler-national-newspapers