Page 44 - SurprisingTruthFinal

The Surprising Truth About Lying
“They’re flooding the zone,” Lina muttered,
watching the social media data scroll across her
screens. Her blue hair seemed to glow in the server
light. “First, the bots. Ten thousand accounts
simultaneously posting about three different, equally
dramatic scandals. Russian invasion, alien sighting,
new celebrity divorce. All noise.”
“Diversion,” Henry said. “They want to prove
there’s too much chaos to care about a dead train
conductor.”
“Worse than that,” Lina said. “They’re hitting the
source. Look.”
On the central screen, a major global news
aggregate, one Henry himself had advised, was
running a headline: “HACKTIVIST CONSPIRACY:
UNSTABLE EX-SPIN DOCTOR AND RELIGIOUS
FANATIC SPREAD DISINFORMATION.”
The article didn’t address the budget line item or
the four deaths. It focused entirely on Henry’s
professional history. He was painted as a disgruntled,
cynical former insider, seeking revenge after being
fired (a neat lie, covering up his jailbreak). Vincent was
dismissed as an anti-capitalist zealot. Lina, the
anonymous Null, was declared a foreign agent.
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