It’s certainly a pervasive, institutional mindset even outside outside of the institutions.
Truth is whatever supports, agrees with, and advances an agenda. Whoever stands in conflict is automatically ignored, shunned, or openly mocked. And if those methods don’t succeed, stronger tactics are to be applied.
The gun is the established order [of anything] and few want to trigger it. Otherwise there’d be a mob waiting, the “democracy” that the regime is determined to protect.
I can’t resist an anecdote.
I had been in a corporate setting for about five years and was beginning to master my one little corner of the operation.
One day a senior executive came to visit us from headquarters. They called us into a conference room and explained what they are about to announce in a press conference.
They cited several statistics to support their about to be public claims.
One of those statistics was based on bad data which proved they did not understand our operation—at all.
I had the correct data at my fingertips. I started to raise my hand to correct the senior executive and my boss gave me a ferocious dirty look and silently mouthed “hand down now”.
The bad statistic was given to the media and they dutifully printed it.
My boss later took me aside and told me that communications with senior management must go through her and her bosses—zero exceptions.
I asked her why the big boss had such bad data.
Her explanation: “If the truth would help us we would share it.”
Yikes.