Comment: Re:Don't copy that floppy! (Score 1) 275
Doubtles there is plenty of lying, but I think you're too cynical.
I've been looking into the losing sides of conflicts, and disasters, trying to see what is typical of human behavior in such stressful situations. And here we see a lot of second guessing, attempts at self justifications and at shifting the blame, and coverups. Most people just aren't honest when honesty requires admitting that maybe they screwed up, or expected too much. Not surprising, I suppose.
Some examples. In the US Civil War, Lee took full responsibility for the loss at Gettysburg, saying that he asked more of his men than they could deliver, and offering to resign. In contrast, Jefferson Davis and General Joseph Johnston constantly bickered over each other's decisions and expectations. Davis was very disappointed that Johnston did not attack to try to lift the siege of Vicksburg, accusing Johnston of not being aggressive enough. Later, Johnston defended Georgia against Sherman, slowly retreating until they had reached Atlanta, whereupon Davis relieved Johnston. The new commander, Hood, could not save Atlanta either, and lost a great number of men in reckless assaults trying to do so. One thing that struck me about this was that Davis seemed near delusional about the Confederacy's capabilities and chances. But both talked as if the war wasn't all but hopeless, as if a change of strategy, style or character in the other could have lead to a Confederate victory, and blame for the eventual Confederate loss could therefore be laid squarely at the feet of some or all of the leaders, instead of the enormous imbalance in power between the 2 sides. But such an acknowledgement would only mean that the blame could be pushed back further, to the people who started the whole war, who should have realized it wasn't winnable. Sherman made this point, trying to tell the southerners that given the strengths of the 2 sides, they were crazy for trying to rebel, and it would only lead to the devastation of the South, as indeed happened. Hitler's attitude as revealed in his final message in which he blamed the German people for not trying hard enough and for not being worthy of him, was similar.
More recently, the Northeast blackout of 2003 has been fairly well documented, but there are some features of it that remain, well, dark. I recall a report that noted that during the blackout, allergies everywhere cleared up. Some years later when I tried to hunt this report down, I couldn't find it. Only thing I was able to turn up was a report about asthma, not allergies. Maybe I misremembered? But that's just the sort of information industries are so notorious for trying to suppress. They've done it over and over, with asbestos, bisphenol A, nicotine, radium, and lead. "Doubt is our product". Fukushima also featured a lot of lying and covering of asses. The propaganda is so pervasive, I suspect toxic chemicals and pollution have a lot more to do with our current obesity epidemic and other health problems than the public realizes. The public has been fooled into buying our laziness, bad dietary choices, and bad genes as the major and perhaps sole reasons for the obesity. All the easier, as there is a lot of evidence pointing that way. And now a new culprit has come to light, the bacteria in our guts. But when this is all over, I imagine future histories of the late 20th and early 21st centuries will finger the explosion in indiscriminate use of novel chemicals as the reason behind a lot of our current troubles, just as we now know that lead poisoning played a large part in the fall of the Roman Empire.