On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, #1)

by David Weber

one of the first signs of a self-destructing aboriginal culture always seems to be an increase in the use of drugs and intoxicants,

"He's an arrogant, over-sexed, incompetent, bigoted snot,"

This looks awfully sus—"

The bigger the lie, apparently, the more likely the uninformed were to accept it, simply because they couldn't believe any government would tell such an absurd story unless it were true.