Just in case anyone wonders why I seem so concerned about the importance of factual truth, and of each of us taking the trouble to determine whether we are hearing it, note that virtually every social or political problem that can be identified remains unabated or is exacerbated because we, the public, are misinformed, or denied crucial information.

For example, as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “Big Oil peddled the big lie,” His point was that Exxon Mobil accurately forecast global heating as long ago as the 1970s only to then spend decades publicly contradicting their own research. He condemned fossil fuel giants for ignoring their own climate science, accusing the oil and gas industry of seeking to expand production despite knowing “full well” that their business model is incompatible with human survival.

This oil company deception has been known for some time now, but it wasn’t uncovered until decades were wasted doing nothing about it. If we can be deceived about the most serious global problem the world has yet faced, what falsehoods are we immune from?

Speaking of oil, remember how people were blaming the President for gasoline prices? And of course the companies themselves were saying they had to raise prices because of higher costs.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies will show combined profit of $190 billion for 2022, record annual profits, reaping a “windfall of war,” refusing to help lower prices at the pump.

The energy giants are expected to use their windfall profits to reward shareholders with higher dividends and share buybacks.

These two stories are as much about greed as they are about public deception, and we know that greed is one of the main motivators for lying. But as long as we have an inadequately regulated capitalist system, there will be enormous instances of greed and deception to go with it.

Liars lie because they think they will be believed. They do it because it works for them. They know that too many people have the bad habit of believing what they are told without verifying it. Does that bad habit come from believing religious myths? Yes, it does. It teaches sloppy thinking, a failure to apply logic and critical thinking. An increasing number of people have abandoned such beliefs, but progress is slow.

There is a way around this problem. As the song said “Keep ’em separated”. If you like the idea of a “Spirit in the Sky”, understand that you are just suspending your disbelief for that concept, but not opening your brain to every fantasy that comes along and winks at you. In other words, you can still have your imaginary indulgence, as long as you aren’t mentally promiscuous.

The history of deceptions is a long one. Indigenous people were defeated as much by broken treaties as by military force. More recently, many Americans were fooled by an idea known as “trickle down”. Even some who were highly doubtful didn’t realize that the concept would nearly destroy the middle class and accelerate income and wealth inequality, with economic damage that has continued long after Reagan’s burial.

Not all misinformation comes from corporations or ambitious politicians, nor has a rational motive. Those who spread fear-inducing lies about vaccination condemned hundreds of thousands to needless deaths and extended a deadly pandemic much longer than it would have lasted.