“Despite George Washington and the cherry tree, we no longer have a society especially consecrated to truth. The culture produces an infinity of TV shows and movies depicting the importance of honesty. But they’re really talking only about the importance of being honest about your feelings. Sharing feelings is not the same thing as telling the truth. We’ve become a country of situationalists.”
Maureen Dowd in a fine column paying tribute to the truth and to David Rosenbaum, recently retired New York Times journalist killed in a robbery this week: “He had a grin that always improved the weather.”