Chapter 13, November Continued Summary and Analysis

Later in the chapter, Thompson discusses the difference between perception and reality. Hunter writes that there has been a major transformation in American politics from an ethos of "charisma" to a new one: the ethos of "perception and reality." This is based on a fact. Americans had become aware of the use of deceit within politics. Deception is a strange creature. One moment this is nothing more than a harmless way of keeping the peace within a marriage or a family, but the next is it the very means that villainy and injustice are committed. Deceit is also used to manage strong disagreements by individuals within intimacy, family, community, and society at large. Hunter describes this new contrast as being more than "deceit versus honesty." It also involves the simple or convoluted distinctions between how someone is...