As sensitive as we are to the misinformation caused by fake news, we are at the same time extremely tolerant of the systematic publication of white lies intended to make us agree with the political agenda of those who fabricated them and the media outlet where they are published. I think of all these studies, investigations, interviews, and reports used to create a biased representation of reality to make it more complacent and less conflictive, or to make it more threatening and provoke a more forceful response in favor of how we would like it to be.

1. Truth. In 1943, Alexandre Koyré denounced the truth that does spring from its universality but rather from its conformity to the spirit of race, nation or social class. He called it "the modern lie". The foundations are still the same, but the potential for deception has not stopped growing, even if the forms may be milder than at the time when the Russian-born philosopher of science, who made his career in France, was writing.

The start of this year saw an insurrection that tried to overturn the result of the US presidential elections, and take hold of the Capitol in Washington, DC. The insurrectionists believe that Donald J. Trump won the election, that there was massive electoral fraud, and some seemed persuaded that they were taking part in a revolution.