There has been a lot of talk recently about Freedom of Information, Censorship, Press Freedom etc, but there seems to be no regard as to whether this information is true or false. A good example is Janet Street-Porter's article "Why I don't want Google to hide all my dirty secrets" Daily Mail May 19 2014 p 45. She lists 5 embarassing secrets about herself which she says the internet is welcome to. I will not list them because I do not think there is any great public interest to do so, and though she may not mind, her friends and family might. Nowhere in her article does she distinguish between truth and lies. Surely she would not be happy if downright lies were printed, eg she used to work as a prostitute; she fraudulently claimed massive expenses. (Note to those getting second hand information via Google -- these are my invented lies). My view is that Google should not bias or obstruct access to detrimental facts or opinions, but that a person should have the right to remove lies about themself.
"For that reason, they go nuts when he makes such statements. They have felt repressed by liberals who call them racists for giving voice to what to them seems an obvious truth: immigrants are dangerous. So they love him for “telling the truth” by giving voice to their feelings without judgment.
Whether you think he speaks the truth or lies depends on how you personally process communication. If your internal truth function is based on literal meanings, almost everything he says is a lie. You can prove it to yourself. Go find any Trump speech online and pick the first fact he asserts. Then google that fact. It won’t take long to find evidence disproving it. But if your truth function is emotional, you’ll hear his statement another way. You’ll ask if his statement describes feelings similar to your own. If you are in his audience, you’ll resonate to his words like a tuning fork. And if you are not, you will feel visceral disgust."
Andrw Gompertz Quora Jan 31 2017
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