Page 222 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

The Truth About Lying
“I was. Until I ran the numbers.” Logan pulled up a projection. “Even if Extraction wins, the selection criteria are opaque. The Curator decides who’s worthy. Graduation is risky, but at least we control the outcome.”
“So you’re only supporting us because it serves your interests.”
“Welcome to politics, Henry. Motives don’t matter. Results do.” He gestured to his team. “These people are the best in the world at persuasion. Let us help.”
Henry wanted to refuse on principle. But Vincent put a hand on his shoulder.
“Pride is a luxury we cannot afford,” the priest said quietly. “If he can help us win, let him.”
So they formed an unlikely alliance, the revolutionary, the priest, the hacker, and the spin doctor. Together, they crafted a message that would reach eight billion people in six hours.
They called it the “Ambiguity Preserve” proposal.
The core of the Tiered Truth System remained: mandatory honesty in public institutions, protected privacy in personal life. But they added something new: designated spaces where imagination, hope, and creativity were explicitly protected from the demand for absolute truth.
“Art doesn’t have to be factual,” Jinji said in a video that went viral within minutes. “Stories don’t have to be real. Dreams don’t have to be achievable. We need space to imagine better futures, even when we’re not sure we can reach them. That’s not lying. That’s being human.”
Vincent recorded a sermon that was broadcast to every religious community on Earth.
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