Why We Believe What We Believe

Reality Can Be Confusing Enough Without the Blatant Manipulations of Those With an Agenda

Betrayal

I was barely two when I first realized someone was trying to manipulate my perception of reality. My mother was doing her best to distract me with photos in a Life Magazine that was as big as me. Sitting on her lap, I could sense her nervousness. I knew something was amiss.

But what?

A few minutes later, with no explanation, she walked away from me and out the door, leaving me with a strange woman in a white uniform. I had no idea if my mother would ever return, and worse, I was terrified that the strange woman was going to do something terrible to me.

The fact was that I needed life saving surgery, and in the early 60’s parents were discouraged from staying with their small children when they were hospitalized. Fortunately, the doctors were successful in treating my illness and I lived, obviously, or I wouldn’t be writing to you now. But my mother’s efforts to deceive me, however well intentioned, left a mark on my psyche. My distrust of authority figures was forged that day and I hadn’t even learned to drink from a glass yet.

Several years later, my distrust would be amplified as the western world experienced a cultural revolution whose clarion call was to question authority. I was twelve when the Watergate scandal revealed corruption in the highest ranks of our government…