I’m going to be blunt. We are constantly being lied to.
That doesn’t mean everyone you talk to, or every piece of information out there is an outright lie. But, misleading and flat out wrong items get mixed in with the truth - and separating those from each other can be an impossible task sometimes.
This week, I’ll give you a couple of examples and tips on how to spot these lies.
Let’s start with a bottle of ketchup. Seems innocuous enough, right? To differentiate this particular brand of ketchup from the rest, G Hughes is appealing to the health-conscious voice in all of us.
“It’s not just any ketchup…this is sugar-free ketchup! That must be better!”
Look, there’s nothing wrong with trying to be different in a crowded marketplace. I mean, just look at how many ketchup options there are!
But when your claims are misleading, well you are verging into liar territory. Here’s what I mean.
There is nothing literally untruthful about saying this brand of ketchup is “sugar free.” There’s no sugar in it. Pretty simple. But, that’s just because something else was added instead…
…sucralose (or, known as its brand name Splenda). It’s not sugar, but instead an artificial sweetener. So, this ketchup is good if you’re someone looking for a chemically-enhanced “non-sugar” sugar. But I would argue most of us who are just browsing the aisles would see this and think “oh great, this ketchup has no sugar, so it must be healthier.”
I won’t get into the debate on artificial sweeteners, but as someone who gets migraines when I have specific types of artificial sweeteners, I would like to have a little more transparency.
This is what I mean when I say we’re being lied to. It’s not necessarily malicious, but it’s a reminder that we have to always be on the lookout for that next lie. And if we’re not constantly on guard, we’re easy targets.
It can be exhausting.
But, who cares about ketchup? Let me give you another example, with a real-life person - and this gets back to the media, too.
In case you don’t know, I’m a big hockey fan. And over the last couple of weeks, the hockey world was treated to one of the strangest situations I’ve experienced as a fan of the National Hockey League.
The Vegas Golden Knights have been battling for one of the final playoff spots, and the team essentially needed to win the rest of its games to secure a spot. If you’re not a sports person, it’s ok. It’s more like a soap opera.
Monday, April 18:
Starting goaltender Robin Lehner plays against the New Jersey Devils, and lets in three goals, including two in the third period, which allows the Devils to win.
After the game, head coach Pete DeBoer told the media that Lehner needed to play better and that his backup, Logan Thompson, has been the team’s more consistent goalie recently (paraphrasing here). In the business we call this, “throwing him under the bus.”
Most in the media assumed that meant Thompson would get the start for the remaining five games.
Wednesday, April 20:
Nope. Coach DeBoer doesn’t start Thompson, instead opting for Lehner against the Washington Capitals. Lehner plays fine, allowing just one goal on 13 shots in the first period. But for some reason, he’s replaced at the first intermission by backup Logan Thompson.
“A .923 save percentage has got to be some sort of record for a goalie pulled on a coach’s decision.”
Sean McIndoe, author of the Down Goes Brown History of the NHL, speaking on The Athletic Hockey Show, April 21, 2022
Was Lehner hurt? Was something said in the locker room? After the game, coach DeBoer said, “We pay him to start games like this. It’s the most important time of the year. He’s healthy, he’s fresh.”
Remember that last part: “He’s healthy, he’s fresh.” So, not an injury.
Friday, April 22:
This is where things start to feel a bit fishy.
The player (Lehner) told the team after Wednesday’s game he’s getting surgery and is done for the season. So, he is not only injured, but has been so since early March.
The coach (DeBoer) claims he doesn’t know about this. OK, someone here is lying.
Saturday, April 23:
Practice day for the Knights. Backup Logan Thompson is on the ice for practice, but not Lehner. The team issues a statement saying that the netminder is having another “maintenance day” and that they hope to have him available for Sunday’s game (against bitter rival, the San Jose Sharks).
So, he’s not injured? Remember, just three days ago, his coach said, “He’s healthy, he’s fresh.” The team continues to deny the reports that he’ll need surgery.
Sunday, April 24:
Game day, and what do you know? Lehner is there, dressed and ready to go as the backup. That means if the starter plays poorly or gets injured, he will step in and play. So he must not be injured then, right? Right?!?
Did the media just jump the gun then before they had a real, verifiable story?
Well…
Monday, April 25:
So he is definitely injured then. Is your head spinning yet? Wait…there’s more.
Notice something here? “Cap implications.” The team decided that instead of allowing a player to heal, they needed to make sure he suited up so they didn’t run afoul of the salary cap. The team (and in this case, the coach) had a clear motive - and it didn’t matter what was best for the player (and it’s worth noting that this particular player has been very vocal about his own struggles with mental health and addiction.)
So what can we learn from this? I know it might seem like a minor infraction when you look at the problems of the world, but it brings up two important questions we need to ask when reading or engaging with any piece of content.
Who owns this narrative?
What do they stand to gain from it?
In this case, the Golden Knights owned this narrative. They needed Lehner to suit up in order to avoid salary cap issues, so they asked their coach to lie (or at the very least, withheld information) in order to do that. The coach, knowingly or not, put the blame on an injured goaltender to try to take some of the heat off his own seat.
So just remember, whether someone’s trying to sell you the idea of a healthy ketchup or a healthy netminder, there’s a reason behind it - and you should think twice before believing it.
Rose / Thorn / Bud
What has caught my attention this week
Rose (the good)
Sticking with sports, the aforementioned Vegas Golden Knights have been eliminated from playoff contention! As a fan of the team’s bitter rival San Jose Sharks, this is good news to me.
Thorn (the bad)
I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Netflix plans to add advertising to its service. And beyond that, the company plans to crack down on password sharing (sorry, Mom).
That understandably has customers upset, and many have left. And that’s now leaving employees at the streaming giant also upset and uncertain about the future. Many had stock in the company that are now worth a lot less due to the loss in value.
And I also have to acknowledge the death of climate activist, Wynn Bruce, who set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court to bring attention to the climate crisis. Just terribly tragic all around.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/04/26/wynn-bruce-fire-supreme-court-climate-activist/
Bud (what I’m looking ahead to)
Welp, Elon Musk bought Twitter. Genuinely curious to see how or if this changes much. I’m sure I’ll do a follow-up newsletter on my thoughts as to why Musk did it, and why the media isn’t asking the right questions about it.
But my big question…how is twitter valued at $44 billion? We need a new way to measure value in this society.
Weekly Recommendation
Sci Hub is this week’s recommendation. If you’re like me and you’ve been intrigued by a scientific paper, only to find it stuck behind a paywall, then Sci Hub is for you. The project aims to provide access to scientific information for all, it’s open source and donation-supported, so if you like what it does (and I sure do), throw ‘em a few bucks.
Thank You!
Thanks for reading. Send ideas, tips, thoughts to higherthinking@substack.com. Follow me on twitter @imnoahglick. And if you want to support this work, feel free to venmo or paypal me a couple bucks to keep the coffee flowing.
Podcast versions of this newsletter will be available in the coming weeks.
Be good to each other!
Cheers,
Noah