"What are the facts? Again and again and again - what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" — what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!" - -Robert Heinlein
When I moved, I had to decide whether or not to get rid of my encyclopedia. I tried to sell it, but nobody wanted it, and it was too nice to throw away. Now that AI and fake news destroyed the internet, I am so glad I kept it. I am going back to books printed on paper. The Web is only for email, cute cats, or a music video. #enshitification
The "Good Cop, Bad Cop" trick is a popular technique because it works even when you know they are doing it. The contrast between the 2 operators makes the less extreme one look mild in comparison, even though they would appear anything but mild in another context. But it doesn't work only with police. It can take the form of "good pope, bad pope" or "good Supreme Court Justice, bad Supreme Court Justice", or even "good media outlet, bad media outlet". Now that you are aware of this trick, you will see it everywhere.
Film idea: A re-telling of the Jesus Story, but told in the style of Rashomon with each account giving a very different perspective of the events. All with complete faithfulness to the source material, so that the religious can't accuse us of shenanigans.
@ambulocetus I've always thought it would be fun to do a film of Jesus as a charming and conniving conman performing "miracles" to raise his lot in society. Then he gets busted and executed and his partner crawls out of a cave dressed like him to cash in on his name.