uruloki’s lair

Do you expect to be lied to, or at least mislead, on a daily basis?

I do, but I don’t really have a problem with it. The reason? I’m not being misled by people that are close to me. Everyday, we take in and process a huge amount of information, not all of which is factual or unbiased, but that we need to use to determine what we are going to do and think. There are two major areas that I see as the primary areas of misleading information today.

The first is that of television. I’m not talking about the differences between Fox News, CNN, and Al-Jazeera. Just watching a kids’ show on the Cartoon Network can demonstrate what I am trying to get at. Advertising makes us expect to be lied to.

I expect to have to parse almost everything I see on TV. Let’s start with the commercials, shall we? Each and every one has disclaimers, written so small that I never knew what they said until I got a bigscreen TV. Now I know that I shouldn’t expect any deal to be that deal, or a product to work as demonstrated or even produce the desired results (at least not without side effects…). Whether a legal disclaimer, or simply a semantic one, the information that is not explicitly called out in the advertisement can change what is presented as fact. A trivial example is the ad for Bayer Advanced Formula Fertilizer, which says that it can do 4 times the amount of work as other fertilizers. However, if you read the subtext, all they did was compare amount of fertilizer on the bag. There was qualitative analysis which would allow them to present that as a fact on its own.

A nontrivial example, which is affecting you and me (if you pay taxes) right now, is the ads for Nexium and Prilosec. Nexium goes for $5 a pill, while Prilosec sells for $14 a pill. The real difference? None really, it’s just that Prilosec is an upgraded version of Nexium. Nexium will be effective for 95% of the people who have the condition, but the ads for Prilosec won’t tell you that. The companies will make more money on the glamour drug. Additionally Prilosec is available over the counter, with no comparable difference in effectiveness, but here’s where you and I come in. When the silvered citizens see this commercial, they are going to ask for Prilosec, and the doctor will give it to them, since it does take care of the problem. They go off with the prescription, and spend our money to get the drugs through Medicaid, at $9 a pill more.

This is a standard advertising gimmick, and they are allowed to do so as long as they explain a little more in the disclaimer. There has to be a bare minimum of veracity, simply to forestall lawsuits. Unfortunately, politicians don’t even have to comply with the bare minimum.

The other major area that I see misleading information come from is that of the political arena. Every politician, of every stripe, says things and votes for items that will keep them in office. The example that sticks in my mind the most is last year’s Medicare bill that was passed. Everyone involved with the bill said it was going to be approximately $400 billion to implement, when anyone with half a brain saw that it was going to be much more than that. In the end, it comes in at $540+ billion dollars, at least a one third increase. Politicians can also make unsubstantiated charges against other people that would be grounds for a slander suit in any other venue. Yet, they are allowed to say what ever they want with no qualifications. At least the companies make an attempt…

I really don’t have a problem with what the companies are doing. It’s part and parcel of a capitalist society, convincing someone to buy your product in preference to the other guys’ product. The consumer just has to have a modicum of common sense and a willingness to do some research, which I don’t think happens all that often. I do have a problem with the politicians. I am tired of them taking my money and giving it to other people to buy their votes. It doesn’t help when they say one thing knowing full well that the end cost will be much higher. Once again, if taxpayers would vote smart instead of short term, we’d all be a lot better off.

Aside: In the comments to the question, wishbone said: “Only if i read the local newspaper.” I agree, which is why I don’t read the newspapers very much anymore (maybe online once in a while). I can usually tell how a story is going to play out just from the title and the subheader, and so I don’t need to read the story. I’ll usually get the initial story from Drudge, and if it interests me, I’ll go see what some other places have to say. They’d say it wasn’t lying, but enough misleading is lying in my book.

Tags: Questions //