the plague of piae fraudes

The disease of the "moral" lie is catching; it spreads like plague through the echelons of information. The slight exaggerations and embellishments of the statistician become in the mouth of the expert, and even more the politician, grandiose fables, simplistic tales ever more tenuously connected to the richness and subtlety of the data. To stop this disease is to confront the complexity of reality and to combat the tyranny of truth. We must inoculate ourselves with skepticism and forever divorce our conclusions from their evidence! For conclusions, even the much trumped 10 commandments, can only ever be opinions; and, as opinions, they cannot justify "moral" deceit. To spread the truth at all costs, this is what motivates the pius lie; only when we vaccinate ourselves against truth can we return to the age of reason. The wise man says: to know the extent to which a truth is a lie, to know the limits of the data, this is knowledge.