Good ideas do not need lots of lies in order to gain public acceptance (2008) (blog.danieldavies.com)

Daniel Davies argues that credible ideas don’t require deception to win public acceptance, using examples from accounting and forecasting. He applies the logic to the Iraq War, saying that repeated false or dishonest claims about WMDs should be discounted entirely rather than selectively trusted, and that the lack of audit and accountability for forecasts leads to avoidable policy errors. He also suggests that known untrustworthy claims were effectively granted “the benefit of the doubt,” with real-world consequences.