Baldacci - The Whole Truth

Baldacci might as well be the Stephen King of Spy/Thriller books – and the first look at the book is a question mark... It’s kind of like watching the 6th season of 24 and wondering how in the world they could ever find something new to do with the show... how many new ways Jack can kill somebody... and being completely blown away

... NOT...

...with any amazing new action twists... fight scenes... spy tricks... or any sort of new invention that makes you feel like you could board a jet to Tehran the next day and destroy terrorist cells...

... BUT...

... with a plot that hits directly onto the things going on in the world today... Question... In a world where information is power... How do we know who to believe? How do we know truth? How do we decide truth? Or... how to we create truth?...

... For me this has wide-ranging implications in reality because with all of the bias, and spin, and hidden agendas within different news agencies/companies/countries/special interest groups/conspiracy theorists... take your pick... it’s hard to know who to believe..

... Even someone... say... like Barrack Obama... who’s to say I can believe the people that are giving him the information... the stuff that he takes and then passes on to me as credible... Consider the previous president as a case study... Because maybe we can... TRUST... that Bush was told there were WMDs in Iraq... somebody gave him the wrong intel... well... sad to say that the same thing could happen to Obama just as easily...

... So that’s the WHY this book is important... now I’m going into the HOW it tackles these questions in a credible way to help me make sense of some of the strategies used...

... from SHOCK AND AWE campaigns... Millions of people die from hunger, heart disease, cancer... but just like terrorism... it's the intensity and delivery that gets people going...
... to CREDIBLE SOURCES... just because the source is credible does not mean the information is...
... to GRASS ROOTS movements (like blogging and youtube)... where you would not think people had an agenda... when you lower your guard...
... to PROTESTS and VIOLENCE... where 500 people can look like a lot more with some decent camera work... and signs are convincing enough...
... to CONTROLLING COVERAGE... even 'unbiased' news has to make decisions about what they can show in a 1 hour spot... all their stories can be without fault or bias and yet present only what they want you to know...
... to PLAYING ON STEREOTYPES... this is why past crimes are inadmissable in a court trial...
... to INFORMATION LEAKS to the press...
... to DUMMY WEB SITES and FLAMING to monitor and gauge people’s reactions...

... And the craziest thing of all... at the end... you almost AGREE with the bad guy and his aims if you didn't LIKE the good guy so much...