Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Faking the news is nothing new

 The US Naval Institute blog has a lot of interesting stuff on it: Most of it I don't understand, but I keep an eye on it since my grandson is in the USNavy.

Today they discuss a little known incident during the Viet Nam war, where an officer faked a lot of stuff for his own glory: Told in a book the Arnheiter Affair.

Read the whole thing if you are interested in that part of history.

key quote to keep in mind when you read today's news:


. . . the captain would demonstrate once again that if you make a hoax look and sound plausible enough, a lot of people will believe you. You must know how to play upon fears and prejudices, to exploit motives and limitations. Arnheiter was adept at this. The captain took naturally to fraud because his mind had difficulty distinguishing reality from delusion and right from wrong. The deliberate lie blurred into the unconscious fantasy.

—Neil Sheehan, The Arnheiter Affair

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