David Warren, one of the finest essay writers today, quotes another great essayist Charles Lamb, in defending Rush Limbaugh from the journalists who won't admit to spreading false quotes that are know to be false because Everybody knows
"The people" have always wished to be flattered, but they do not benefit from that service. And while it is too much to go about slashing their tires, it is important to war constantly against what "everybody knows." For what everybody knows is usually displaced some distance from the truth, and often in opposition to it. "Western Civ" was not built upon what everybody knows, but to the contrary. It was assembled in the face of darkest human nature, by the assiduous efforts of small and often persecuted minorities, trying to get at the surprising truth, and then spread it.