I’ve always found the most effective way to sell a lie is to sandwich it between two truths.

That’s an old line I’ve heard many times. I even remember an interrogation scene in “Babylon 5” as well as other shows. For a long time it has been a mantra used by many scam artists. Why am I posting such a thing here? Because as a writer you are going to be asked to be a scam artist at some point. Most of you won’t even realize you are participating a scam or selling a lie.

How do you know when a politician is lying? There mouth is moving.

How do you know a used car salesman(person) is lying? They say “trust me.”

We’ve all heard these things numerous times. If you haven’t heard them much you simply haven’t lived long enough. They persist because they are true often enough. There is also one which offends most writers, but is true just as often as the previous two.

How do you know a writer is lying? They use statistics.

In today’s market for writers most of you will knowingly take SEO or other click-bate writing projects just to pay the bills. In many cases the content will be so disgusting you will be happy to not get a by-line. Even things which were once considered journalism are now simply fabricating articles to promote a paid for position. This is quite rampant during election years but has been quite rampant for the past decade. Today writers don’t even bother to sandwich a lie between two truths. The current lie is to throw out a number as an undisputed fact without any sources or corroboration. Here is a good example from recent articles:

Roughly half of the jobs in the top income quartile — defined as those paying $57,000 or more per year

Middle-income households – those with an income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income – had incomes ranging from about $42,000 to $125,000 in 2014. Lower-income households had incomes less than $42,000 and upper-income households had incomes greater than $125,000 (all figures computed for three-person households, adjusted for the cost of living in a metropolitan area, and expressed in 2013-14 dollars).

The link in each quote is a link to the original article for as long as it remains. The first quoted article provides no explanation as to how far up their back sides they reached to pull $57K out. They also don’t explain how they determined “roughly half.” Most places tend to pull numbers from a large payroll processor like ADP and quote the source. These seem to have come from thin air.

Our second quoted article came from the oft-quoted Pew Research organization. We will pick at the quote in a minute. First you need to draw 2 parallel lines of the same length. (Actual length doesn’t matter as long as they are the same.) On the top one draw short ticks through it to divide it into thirds. On the bottom one draw short ticks through to divide it into quarters. Now think about the phrase “top income quartile” and try to come up with legitimate math where one quarter of the same length line encompasses the entire middle third. Can’t be done.

Now, let’s talk about the subtle lie in the quote from Pew. This comes from a rather murky phrase thrown around, “U.S. media household income.” For those of you who don’t know where that number comes from, it is a number published by the U.S. Census Bureau, in theory. I have read some things which appear to take quite a bit of liberty with that phrase. The link associated with it is a great little post. When you look at the chart you can see just how little things have really changed with this number. For those of you who didn’t click the link here is the really important piece.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “household median income” is defined as “the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount.”

Now look at the disclaimer in the quoted article.

all figures computed for three-person households

The U.S. Census Bureau definition uses households and doesn’t care how many people make up the household. If you really do look at the chart in the link you will see that $125,000 is way more than double the U.S. Census Bureau number. A bit of math 53657-(53657/3) = 35771.333 which is considerably below the $42,000 number.

Adding insult to injury, the census data is most likely bogus. Realistically it has to be. There is the random census and the full census both with various participation rates and levels of honesty by participants. Do you really think Jamie Dimon’s $1.5 million base salary plus his $10 million bonus plus $18.5 million vested stock was rolled into the overall “median income”? If so, consider just how heavily weighted the bottom “half” must be to pull the “median” down to inflation an adjusted $53,657 for 2014? Remember median is determined by count, it is not an average. If the IRS were to ever publish the average household income that would be an interesting number.

Of course now we must slice the truly rotted fish, middle-income vs. middle-class. A lot of people use those terms interchangeably. Most will use rather nefarious definitions of “middle-class” to “prove” an agenda. Even the Wall Street Journal slipped into this trope in a 2015 article.

Though there’s no formal definition of the term, the middle class would have to include the median household by income–that is, the household that earns the exact amount more than one-half of American households and less than the other half.

This would be a patently incorrect statement. Anyone of a certain age knows it to be completely false. How do we know this? When we were whipper-snappers middle class was never defined by income. Middle class was and always will be defined by the American dream. What qualifies you for middle class has not changed despite the supposedly learned professing it has. Here is the list which defines middle class.

  1. Own a home in a safe location. Does not matter if it is house, town home or condo. White picket fence is optional, but, after Flintgate, you do have to require safe drinking water.
  2. Able to own a vehicle taking care of all its maintenance costs.
  3. Able to afford offspring.
  4. A family pet, even if your current family consists of one.

With the rise of ride sharing services it may not make sense for people dwelling in a metropolis like Chicago to own an automobile. Many people commute to work via bike, walking, scooter or public transportation. Still, the ability to both pay for and maintain a vehicle has always been part of the definition.

This definition arose with the Baby Boomer flight to the suburbs to have 2.3 kids and a dog. Post WWII was when middle class came to be. America’s greatest generation set the definition. The definition worked no matter where you chose to live. Please don’t continue the lie saying it is defined by something else. There is no “adjusting the definition for inflation” because the definition doesn’t care.

Why will you as an writer/author be asked to help perpetuate lies? Because a lie told often enough becomes the cultural truth. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow did not start the Chicago fire yet most of you believe that. She was actually cleared by the city council.

Those of you my age or a bit older grew up with a shining example of lies from supposedly trusted sources. How many of you north of 50 remember 4th grade science where you were taught meat naturally contained everything needed to create maggots? Oh laugh not young-ins, this do be fact. Your elders were taught this. Growing up on a farm I saw what the supposedly learned did not, the flies landing on the meat. I remember it rather vividly because I got into an argument with my teacher. While I did not have to go to the principle’s office I did nearly fail science that year. Some writer took as fact what they were told and they put that in a text book which was actually sold to schools. I shudder to think what might be getting through today.

It is your job as a writer to smell the lie and vet it. You can practice this skill with pretty much every article you read on-line. One lie can reference another page on-line where the lie was echoed. Finding the actual truth is a skill you need to hone. Why? Because you need it for your own writing. If you write a period piece, even if it is fiction, and you think it is cool to have the main character driving around in a 1927 Chevy you had best make sure the model you chose actually existed.

The Internet hasn’t made it easier to vet a lie, but it has made it easier to perpetuate a lie. If you are a Twitter user, how many things have you retweeted without doing even the tiniest bit of research? It is very easy to write a blog post linking back to an invalid source as proof. Few readers will research past the first level.

All lies are easier to accept if they happen to be something you wish to believe. If an article already confirms your beliefs, just how much effort do you put into seeing if the article is even remotely accurate? Humans, by and large, are a gullible breed.

“There’s a sucker born every minute.” P. T. Barnum.