Lies, Incorporated : The World of Post-Truth Politics

The birth of lies incorporated: tobacco -- Tobacco's sequel: climate change -- Lie panel: health care -- Growth in a time of lies: debt -- On the border of truth: immigration reform -- Two dangerous weapons: guns and lies -- One lie, one vote: voter ID laws -- Shut that whole lie down: abortion -- A lie's last gasp: gay marriage -- Defeating lies incorporated.;In today's post-truth political landscape, there is a carefully concealed but ever-growing industry of organized misinformation that exists to create and disseminate lies in the service of political agendas. Ari Rabin-Havt and Media Matters for America present a revelatory history of this industry;which they've dubbed Lies, Incorporated;and show how it has crippled legislative progress on issues including tobacco regulation, public health care, climate change, gun control, immigration, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Eye-opening and indispensible, Lies, Incorporated takes an unflinching look at the powerful network of politicians and special interest groups that have launched coordinated assaults on the truth to shape American politics. From the Trade Paperback edition. Human beings are animals -- Main challenges to establishing the first premise -- Animals are enduring agents -- Sensation is a bodily act -- In human being the agent that performs the act of sensing is identical with the agent that performs the act of understanding -- An argument from the nature of human intelligence -- On privileged access and the modal argument for substance dualism -- Human and personal identity : the psychological continuity view -- Against constitutionalism -- Conjoined twins and organic unity and distinctness -- Human beings are persons -- The difference in kind between human beings and other animals -- Conceptual thought -- Free choice, moral agency -- Survival after death -- The human soul after death -- Resurrection of the body -- Personhood and human dignity -- Hedonism and hedonistic drug-taking -- What hedonism is -- Preliminary arguments against psychological and ethical hedonism -- An argument against hedonism from qualitative differences among pleasures -- Hedonism and dualism -- Pleasures are good only as aspects of real perfections -- Hedonistic drug-taking -- Abortion -- The biological issue : human embryos or fetuses are complete (though immature) human beings -- No-person arguments : the dualist version -- No-person arguments : the evaluative version -- The argument that abortion is justified as nonintentional killing -- Euthanasia -- Human life and personhood near the end of life -- The human individual remains a person during his or her whole duration -- Why suicide and euthanasia are morally wrong -- Intentional killing vs. causing death as a side effect -- Human life is an intrinsic good -- The definition of death -- The criterion of death -- Human life and dignity -- Sex and the body -- Sex and marriage -- Sex and pleasure -- Sex, love, and affection -- Sodomy -- Fornication -- Objections -- Non-marital sex acts, multiple partners, incest, bestiality Human beings are animals Main challenges to establishing the first premise Animals are enduring agents Sensation is a bodily act In human being the agent that performs the act of sensing is identical with the agent that performs the act of understanding An argument from the nature of human intelligence On privileged access and the modal argument for substance dualism Human and personal identity : the psychological continuity view Against constitutionalism Conjoined twins and organic unity and distinctness Human beings are persons The difference in kind between human beings and other animals Conceptual thought Free choice, moral agency Survival after death The human soul after death Resurrection of the body Personhood and human dignity Hedonism and hedonistic drug-taking What hedonism is Preliminary arguments against psychological and ethical hedonism An argument against hedonism from qualitative differences among pleasures Hedonism and dualism Pleasures are good only as aspects of real perfections Hedonistic drug-taking Abortion The biological issue : human embryos or fetuses are complete (though immature) human beings No person arguments : the dualist version No person arguments : the evaluative version The argument that abortion is justified as nonintentional killing Euthanasia Human life and personhood near the end of life The human individual remains a person during his or her whole duration Why suicide and euthanasia are morally wrong Intentional killing vs. causing death as a side effect Human life is an intrinsic good The definition of death The criterion of death Human life and dignity Sex and the body Sex and marriage Sex and pleasure Sex, love, and affection Sodomy Fornication Objections Non-marital sex acts, multiple partners, incest, bestiality. Profoundly important ethical and political controversies turn on the question of whether biological life is an essential aspect of a human person, or only an extrinsic instrument. Lee and George argue that human beings are physical, animal organisms - albeit essentially rational and free - and examine the implications of this understanding of human beings for some of the most controversial issues in contemporary ethics and politics. The authors argue that human beings are animal organisms and that their personal identity across time consists in the persistence of the animal organisms they are; they also argue that human beings are essentially rational and free and that there is a radical difference between human beings and other animals; criticize hedonism and hedonistic drug-taking; present detailed defenses of the prolife positions on abortion and euthanasia; and defend the traditional moral position on marriage and sexual acts A stunning investigation of the history of organized misinformation in politics. In today’s post-truth political landscape, there is a carefully concealed but ever-growing industry of organized misinformation that exists to create and disseminate lies in the service of political agendas. Ari Rabin-Havt and Media Matters for America present a revelatory history of this industry—which they've dubbed Lies, Incorporated—and show how it has crippled legislative progress on issues including tobacco regulation, public health care, climate change, gun control, immigration, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Eye-opening and indispensable, Lies, Incorporated takes an unflinching look at the powerful network of politicians and special interest groups that have launched coordinated assaults on the truth to shape American politics. A Progressive Research And Information Center Examines How Organizations And Lobbies Like Gun Control, Tobacco And Alcohol And Oil Have Combined Forces To Attack And Distort The Truth, Cripple Legislation And Create Controversy Where There Is None,--novelist. The Birth Of Lies Incorporated: Tobacco -- Tobacco's Sequel: Climate Change -- Lie Panel: Health Care -- Growth In A Time Of Lies: Debt -- On The Border Of Truth: Immigration Reform -- Two Dangerous Weapons: Guns And Lies -- One Lie, One Vote: Voter Id Laws -- Shut That Whole Lie Down: Abortion -- A Lie's Last Gasp: Gay Marriage -- Defeating Lies Incorporated. Ari Rabin-havt And Media Matters For America. An Anchor Books Original Includes Bibliographical References (pages [199]-236). This book treats the question of what a human person is and the ethical and political controversies of abortion, hedonism and drug-taking, euthanasia, and sex ethics. It defends the position that human beings are both body and soul, with a fundamental and morally important difference from other animals. It defends the traditional position on the most controversial specific moral and political issues of the day. Key ethical and political controversies turn on whether biological life is an essential aspect of a human person, or only an extrinsic instrument. Lee and George argue that human beings are physical, animal organisms - albeit essentially rational and free - and examine the implications of this understanding