Great article! I am

Great article! I am constantly amazed at the number of suckers on the web, and I tend to think those who write the suckers' play have a completely different game in mind than I grew up with. I've always believed that I only won an argument when I legitimately destroyed the other guy's argument and proved my own... with facts (real ones) and logic. Neither could I maintain any self-dignity unless I was willing to change my opinion if it was shown that I was wrong.

As blogs and self-publishing started, I have to admit to initially being one of those suckers, believing that at least the intention of honesty could be inferred. I reasoned that while people can misinterpret information, be mislead, reason poorly, and just be wrong... it is just stupid and pointless to hold onto an opinion that can knowingly only be supported by fraud, double-standards, and bogus assertions. It’s one thing to look for errors. Finding deception is much harder if the liar is good at it. Common sense exposes your examples, but there are many fake stats that you could have concocted which would be far less obvious.

However, I've come to the conclusion that there are many who are now compelled to perpetuate their ideology that doing so becomes the end goal, and anything sacrificed in the process including self-dignity is acceptable. Facts are unwaveringly interchangeable with lies and unsupported opinion (presented as fact) so long as they reinforce the ideology.

It is what drives me crazy about politicians who lie and obfuscate the truth in an attempt to still win their cause d'jour. But what amazes me even more are those who sit and listen to these tell them what they know to be lies, and don't have the character to reject it, or listen to their political hero backtrack, autotune, and flip-flop to the situation... all without losing a shred of personal dignity.