March 14, 2025

[Of political life] The hatreds which sound so real when you read the words, which look so true when you see their scornful attitudes, on which for the time you are inclined to pin your faith so implicitly, amount to nothing.

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882), English novelist, The Landleaguers (1883), Jay p.370

One of the downsides of living in a democracy is the way ordinary citizens are manipulated by the media, in any number of directions. How do you aid and abet this manipulation?

The reality of politics is that it often demands hyperbole, as the point of it is to move others to action in a particular way. Most people don’t like moving, so they need the push that exaggeration produces.