Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification

What important truth do very few people agree with you on?—is difficult to answer directly. It may be easier to start with a preliminary: what does everybody agree on? “Madness is rare in individuals—but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule,” Nietzsche wrote (before he went mad).

If you’re taking a poll or a vote in a public place, it’s essential that people cannot see how other people are voting—if you want anything resembling a true, pre-mimetic reflection of what people think, that is.

While Soros focuses on the principle of reflexivity in financial markets, it operates in many other domains of life. People worry about what other people will think before they say something—which affects what they say. In other words, our perception of reality changes reality by altering the way we might otherwise act. This leads to a self-fulfill

For instance, should a legislator, wishing to impose a new tax, choose that which would be theoretically the most just? By no means. In practice the most unjust may be the best for the masses. Should it at the same time be the least obvious, and apparently the least burdensome, it will be the most easily tolerated. It is for this reason that an ind