As social creatures, our fear of unpopularity is innate, yet to repress the truth is to leave unchecked a parasite gnawing at the soul. We make ourselves vulnerable because we are colluding with those we have deceived in what amounts to an artificial reality. The pressure to lie corrals us into a morally compromising position where, for the sake of our sanity, we learn to believe our own fictions, condemned to live as actors who have forgotten we are playing a role.
