Word: author
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...some ways, lying in general has become a lot easier. The breakdown of communities and the peripatetic habits of the population, notes Charles Ford, author of Lies! Lies!! Lies!!!: The Psychology of Deceit, have made lying harder to uncover. If you live in a condo in San Diego, you can pretend you were captain of your high school football team in Akron, Ohio. But for public figures, it's precisely the opposite: TV and the mass media turn the whole country into one small town...
...this leads us to an unpleasant conclusion. You can be lied to only if you suspend disbelief. Author Charles Ford asserts that "politicians are mouthpieces for the self-deception of the people. Wittingly or unwittingly, they tell us that which we have asked them to tell us." Ergo, we have all been enablers for Bill Clinton. Poll after poll reveals a populace that doesn't want to know the awful truth. "Lie to me," sings Sheryl Crow, "and I'll promise to be true." Bok says that because we expect to hear hypocrisy from our leaders...
Garry Wills, who teaches history at Northwestern University, is the author of Lincoln at Gettysburg
...more effective means of treatment" by spiritual means. Champions of repeal, of course, feel otherwise. A report in the April issue of the professional journal Pediatrics documented 140 child deaths "from religion-motivated medical neglect" between 1975 and 1995, attributed to 23 religious denominations in 34 states. Its co-author, Texas critical-care pediatrician Seth Asser, believes there are hundreds of similar, unreported fatalities. "Kids die from accidental deployment of air bags, and you get hearings in Congress," says Asser. "But this goes on, and dozens die, and people think there's no problem because the deaths happen...
...case of President Gantry, though, the mob does not seem to mind. A cross section of citizens on NBC after the speech gave their approval of Clinton's performance. "He came clean," said one. "Enough already!" One thing achieved by this easy transaction--as author Suzanne Garment has observed--is that the public slips off the hook. No moral standards need apply. Who then minds...