Put Your Shoes On!

Hitting us squarely in our collective “truth detectors” is a principle known as Brandolini’s Law. In our age of misinformation, the law affirms something we already know in our gut – that the energy needed to refute an untruth is significantly greater than the energy required to produce it.

Today, the viral spread of lies online has increased our awareness of this phenomenon. Yet, long before the Internet, people recognized the basic principle. For example, in 1845, a French writer defined his version of the law. He said that one’s adversaries have an advantage when, in very few words, they announce a half-truth. Yet to prove them wrong, one must resort to lengthy rebuttals. Put another way, a lie can travel halfway around the world before the Truth can put its shoes on. -1

As we reflect on our present age of misinformation and uncertainty, let us recall once again the Book of Ecclesiastes that teaches, “There is nothing new under the sun.” And that…