Tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen posted the following: “We are living through the most dramatic preference cascade of my life. Every day I am hearing the most amazing things.”

What an unusual phrase, I thought, so I looked it up. It comes from a book written 30 years ago: Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification, by Duke University economist Timur Kuran. 

I downloaded and read it. It’s brilliant. It seems to explain everything. Maybe it explains too much. Regardless, Kuran has given us a language to describe a remarkable feature of our times. 

How is it that only a few months ago, people were afraid to wear MAGA hats and then Trump, having survived multiple assassination attempts, won not only the Electoral College but also the popular vote, sweeping the House and Senate in with him? 

How can it be that during this transition time, people widely assume that the president and vice president is already not Biden/Harris but Trump/Vance? 

How can it be that foreign leaders are making pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago while Royals praise him as a great leader?

It all changed in an instant. Or seemed to. Maybe the preference for regime change was already in the air but just not revealed. It took a fair election with secret ballots to show the truth. 

Kuran speaks of preference falsification, which is “the act of misrepresenting one’s genuine wants under perceived social pressures.” It is different from self-censorship because people outright lie about what they really think. When the lie persists long enough, people begin to believe the lie and essentially live fake lives, proclaiming fealty to one idea while holding another one in their heart of hearts. 

He starts the book with the most mundane example of wall paint. You are invited to a friend’s house the walls of which have been repainted in fashionable starkness of which the owner is very proud. Your opinion is........

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