spin

Where does emotion stop and reason begin? Where does fact end and interpretation start? How much detail do we need to know to consider ourselves informed?

 

Democracy politics depends precisely on NOT limiting public judgments to only the most bloodless, rational calculations. We rely on politicians’ rhetoric to inspire us — and even to scare us about things we should genuinely fear, like the curtailment of long-held rights or the evisceration of valued social programs. We similarly need to grant politicians a margin of exaggeration and even distortion in our political discourse, because they must be free to advocate full-throatedly for their passions and draw sharp distinctions from their rivals. And we want voters to form judgments with passion even if on imperfect knowledge, lest the demand for consummate mastery of "the issues" chill our democracy into a technocracy. Like everything about democracy - there must be a middle ground.

 

Journalists and intellectuals should — and do — call out politicians when they distort, exaggerate, or manipulate our hopes and fears. “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” www.publicgroup.com.au

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