True enough. Though it is fair to point out that we are comparing the secrets held by a cadre of 50 men in the late 1700's (who had a penchant for highly compartmentalized information) to a wide ranging conspiracy that would require the absolute secrecy of 1000's of reporters. I have no doubt that there exist a multitude of cabals within the upper echelon of our government with their own agendas. It is also fair to assume that many of them don't hold the best interests of the populace as sacrosanct. I never viewed the quote as literal (ie only 1 man can keep a secret), but as a general "the more people know the secret, the less likely it is to remain secret". Which was true even during the revolution, which had it's share of traitors despite best efforts (Arnold etc.). Viewed from that perspective, how likely is it that in our age a wide ranging conspiracy could remain shrouded in darkness? Major leaks in the internet age have been increasing exponentially, even from systems and agencies which were once considered nearly impregnable. How do I square that knowledge with the implications being thrown about in this thread and others?
How (for example) do we believe that the entirety of the news media is actively deceiving us to forward some nefarious goal? How many news outlets are there in this country, 2k? Is it not reasonable to assume that if all those people were being orchestrated towards a common goal that we would have some genuine evidence of it? Where are the whistle blowers, the documents on wikileaks, reddit, et al? Even if only 0.05% of reporters weren't on board with the "master plan", we would still have hundreds of people clamoring to expose it with proof. And yet, I have not seen this proof (if anyone reading this has some, feel free to point it out. I would love to see it).
Take for example the way the media handles firearms stories. While I'm sure there are those reporters who purposely pedal lies, it is likely that many are willfully ignorant, and still more likely that many more are just to lazy to educate themselves on the subject (they are after all mostly paid for the article, not the research that went into it) . But the mixture of liars, confirmation bias, and quick buck seekers does not a conspiracy make.
An excellent summation. The bold portion touches on one of my primary concerns, and the remaining portions are true to my own observations (right down to the age, I'm also 36). With the caveat that I see two types of people. Those of us who see what you describe, and those who are to busy with the circus to notice the tension (i'm talking about anyone who gives a fuck about things like the Kardashians). I honestly think that rational dissection and dissemination of the information we have access too, is the only thing that could turn us away from civil war (if that even remains a possibility). Contrarily, continuing to propagate false information will only accelerate said war.
Happy thoughts
