The Thing about Lying

Lying is everywhere and it is most dangerous when we least expect it, like when liars spread lies in meaningless hype and self-promotion as paid advertisers and entrepreneurs or in podcast as hosts ready and willing to help.

It might be a lie if promise impressed, but performance depressed.

It might be a lie if a professional voice actor is reading a “real customer” review.

She might be a liar if interview impressed, but performance depressed.

Advertising adds to the cost of doing business that’s why there is so much lying there.

When Columbia University rose from No. 18 to No. 2 in the U.S. News & World Report‘s overall 2022 college rankings, the move seemed as questionable as the rankings themselves. Columbia mathematics professor Michael Thaddeus discovered that the prestigious Ivy League institution had provided “inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading” data. This incident raised many questions about Columbia as an institution and about the integrity of college rankings as a whole. In the end, Columbia remained at No. 18 and nothing much else changed in spite of the many questions about the institution and the stupidity of the rankings.