norms of discourse increasingly shaped by an attitude like "if you are misleading for a cause you truly believe in, can one really characterize that as 'in bad faith'?"

— Steve Randy Waldman (@interfluidity) August 8, 2021

That is quite true. I’ve usually seen it framed as, “We must lie to these people for their own good, because they won’t believe the truth.” This is what many (most?) so-called experts sincerely believe now. And when this strategy of mendacity backfires, as it inevitably does, they are surprised that copious lying did not achieve the goals they desired.

Yet they do it again and again and again. I cannot understand it.