Wanted: Facilitator of Denial

"I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here. Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?"
--Cypher (The Matrix)

Wanted to reflect on an article that Fleck commented on yesterday. The piece was written by a columnist named Gillian Tett who writes for the Financial Times. It concerns choosing Ben Bernanke's replacement as the Fed chair is retiring soon. The title of the article reads "Central banking is about storytelling" with a subtitle "The next Fed chair must make us think in a manner that suits the bank's goals."

As Fleck noted, upon first glance, a reader is liable to view this as some kind of a spoof. But the writer is serious. Toward the end of the piece she writes:

"The next Fed chair also has to be a masterful storyteller and cultural analyst, who can read social sentiment, shape norms, (re)create trust and persuade us all to think in a manner that suits the Fed's goals, without us even noticing. Somebody, in other words, who can cast spells with both their spreadsheet and words. In short, what is needed is nothing less than a monetary shaman."

Like Fleck, I wanted to record this, as it is a priceless snippet on how far detached we have become from reality. What we need according to this writer is someone who can make us believe that reality is different than what it is. Someone who can weave the matrix and convince us that the emperor is indeed clothed.

People want the blue pill--a facilitator of denial.