Excerpts: “Alongside this optimistic vision of America as a nation that could become a shining ‘city upon a hill,’ there’s also been a dark, irrational counter-theme in U.S. history, which has now reasserted itself with a vengeance–to the point where reason not only is being undermined but seems to have been tossed out the window, along with facts, informed debate, and deliberative policy making. Science is under attack, and so is expertise of every sort–be it expertise in foreign policy, national security, economics, or education” (p. 23).

“Mass propaganda,” she wrote [Hannah Arendt], “discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leader who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness” (p. 140-141).

“Deconstruction, in fact, is deeply nihilistic, implying that the efforts of journalists and historians–to ascertain the best available truths through the careful gathering and weighing of evidence–are futile. It suggests that reason is an outdated value, that language is not a tool for communication but an unstable and deceptive interface that is constantly subverting itself” (p. 143-144).

Kakutani, Michiko (2018). The Death of Truth. New York: Crown Publishing Group.