BonZaiDuck, I do not think you can transfer the pain of one lie by conjuring up another. The nation, the congress and the Executive branch wanted a lie to go to war because they could not accept to pain. Now they want a lie to keep from feeling our guilt. To lie again would be to say we are responsible for our crimes. How can you blame anybody for being unaware of what motivates them. There is noting we can do but as individuals offer up our pain on the alter of Love. It is the only death that changes everything.
I'm trying to decipher your remark here, because I consider it worthwhile.
I've had a friend tell me recently, after I gave him a paper I'd written about the Great Lie I only implied in my post. It insinuated a simple application of predicate logic -- there are inferences, but only inferences used in the "discovery of evidence." He was only half-serious, suggesting that certain 19th century intellects had argued that "it's impossible to prove anything."
As a practical person, I can't buy that. Things happen in only one way. And sometimes, the prevailing understanding of public opinion clings to a fantasy explanation or a myth.
Somehow, with high-school provided by Jesuits and then through college, I came to the view that the Truth is more important than anything.
Therefore, public policy, public opinion, the future path of history and the decision-making that chooses that path is wrong or simply disastrous if the Lies prevail.
So I'll say I'm an advocate for the Truth first; a Citizen of the World second; a Citizen of the USA third.
If people are "unaware" of what motivates them, then they should become aware. There's an underlying mass psychology, and we're all a part of it. There are various mass psychologies -- take for instance the citizens of Ferguson. I think Darren Wilson was a casualty. But the underlying problems in Ferguson had to be exposed.
We live in a narcissistic culture, steeped in the mythology of the rugged Individual and our individuality. This is why propaganda campaigns work. "I'm smart. I'm an individual. I'm not average. I'm not part of an 'average of the mass.' I can't be fooled."
So -- they're fooled.
I'd like to see a few things taught at the high-school level. An introduction to symbolic logic or something like predicate calculus, together with statistics and probability. It would be a stretch to provide a course in media and public opinion. People might say that it's "political indoctrination."
Ignorance is Bliss. I'd like to see more dissatisfied and unhappy people, because things would change more quickly for the better.