The Technique of Insincerity

When a man looks down at his hand in Texas Hold 'Em and shows two pair and he bets heavily, he is implying he might well have a full house. That is called a "bluff," essentially a deception which is part of the game. When he wins the hand by forcing out his opponents and reveals he did not have a full house, no one cries out "Cheat!" or holds him in disregard; he has won the hand within the rules of the game.

Insincerity in the U.S. is beginning to become "part of the game." It has always been true in advertising where the claims and information given out for a product or service are taken with a grain of salt. And, while true in politics, it has never been more blatant. From crowd size to Charity Foundations to "you can choose your own doctor," the insincerity is epidemic. And obvious. Politics and business now demand something Coleridge thought the purview of fiction: The willing suspension of disbelief.

And a fiction it is. Modern writers include history into fiction and mix them shamelessly. The New Journalist quote people who never said it, explain motives they never had. So the truthful big picture, the accurate overall concept, is better explained and served if all artistic devices are used. We know now not to take them literally.

The lie is incidental to the narrative.