Page 175 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

Nicholas Boothman
“Love requires protected lies.
“We save the species by giving it just enough illusion to function.”
Jinji dropped the circuit board she was holding. It clattered loudly on the concrete floor. She looked at the paper in Henry’s hand, her face a storm of disgust.
“You’ve gone insane,” she spat. “You were the one who taught us that the difference between the two percent and the ninety-eight percent was the entire foundation of the old corruption. And now you want to legislate the lie? You want to be the Chief Architect of the Fiction Mandate?”
“It’s the only way to restart the system without letting the old world back in,” Henry said.
“You’re not fixing the system,” Vincent said. “You’re replacing one lie with another.”
“Only this one is mandatory.”
“Let me tell you what you are really proposing. In the Garden, after the fall, God could have stripped Adam and Eve of their newfound knowledge. He could have made them forget. But He did not. Do you know why?”
Henry said nothing.
“God let them choose the fig leaf,” Vincent said. “You are forcing it on everyone.”
“Free will without structure is just chaos with a prettier name.”
“And structure without free will is tyranny!” Vincent roared. “You want to be God, Henry. You want to decide which truths humans can bear and which they cannot. But
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