Principals of Deception

Three people happily reading a newspaper with a yellow figure below.

Deception and Irony

"Deception and Irony: Soviet Arms and Arms Control," originally published in Open Source Intelligence (1993) and now archived on Liar's Path, examines how the Soviet Union ran a decades-long strategic deception campaign...
Book cover: Lying by Sissela Bok

Lying: Sissela Bok

Version 1.0.0 Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (Sissela Bok) deeply informs  Liars and Storytellers. I have carried a copy in backpack and briefcase for decades,  reading it...

On Truth: Harry Frankfurt

Why am I doing this? I’ve lied and the shame burns to this day.  Someone I’ve trusted lied to me; the injury heals as slowly as a gunshot wound. I’ve...
Dudley Graded School, 1954

The Names of Things

A childhood friend on Facebook recently called me a Republican.  On our playground sixty years ago, I would have pushed her into a snow bank. I was a 'bully' (as...

The liar speaks truth: Deception and working truth (7)

Wisconsin Deershiners Drive Relatives visit the farm. Outside, the temperature was -25F. High winds swirled snow devils NW>SW across the south field. We had returned from X-C skiing. He picked...
Vintage movie poster featuring close-up romantic couple

liars and dupes: Deception and working truth (6)

 Facebook vs. the public toilet Texans! You can’t shit  here!  Your asshole  is in Washington…. Wisconsin Union Rathskeller crapper, circa 1968 Broadcasting one's impassioned message was harder back in the old days....
A weathered tree trunk carved into a humanoid figure outdoors.

Nobel Lies: Deception and working truth (5)

Noble lie, big lie and the 'cause' P.T. Barnum, were he our contemporary, might now say, There's a true believer born every minute. Nice people these true believers, our cousins, brothers,...
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Believers and fools: Deception and working truth (4)

 Believers and fools, liars and dupes  The Executioner's Son The Great Famine of 1932-33 has always be recognized as one of the darkest periods in Soviet...
Two wind turbines on grassy hilltop

Moscow: Deception and working truth [3]

  Deception in Moscow, 1961 A 1900 Russian short story, The Beacon, by Korolenko, comes to mind (Russian version here, English translation here). It is late Fall. A young man...
Three colorful hot air balloons float over a calm lake at sunset.

Deception and working truth (1)

There are so many ways to lie, so few ways to hold a working truth. Then, It takes but a moment to create another lie; it...