I guess lying is one option, believing a liar is another option, and... well, are there any realistic options beyond that? (Maybe something in between, like suspecting an information, but deciding to suppress the feeling in the name of the greater good and being on the right side of history.)
But how do I distinguish between these two options, in real time? Ask "hey, lady, it occured to be that you are either lying or stupid -- and because I don't want to uncharitably accuse you of something that you are not, could you please help me solve this dilemma?" I don't suppose that would work.
I tried communicating with mindkilled people in the past, it didn't go well. (I get accused of something; they congratulate themselves for disarming an evil person.) Now I usually suppress the urge.
If there is a forum where people could rationally communicate this kind of concerns, I don't know about it. Christina Hoff Sommers try to address the problem of fake statistics in her book, in return she got her Wikipedia page vandalized. I don't expect to do better.
I guess lying is one option, believing a liar is another option, and... well, are there any realistic options beyond that?
Sure. There is a very popular option of "I will look only here, I will not look there and even if I accidentally glance over there, I will quickly avert my gaze and feel guilty about my transgression".
Deliberate ignorance combined with cherry-picking evidence can get you very very far.
But how do I distinguish between these two options, in real time?
If only there were some way to think about the two options in something ...
I've started a podcast called Future Strategist which will focus on decision making and futurism. I have created seven shows so far: interviews of computer scientist Roman Yampolskiy, LW contributor Gleb Tsipursky, and artist/free speech activist Rachel Haywire, and monologues on game theory and Greek Mythology, the Prisoners' Dilemma, the sunk cost fallacy, and the Map and Territory.
If you enjoy the show and use iTunes I would be grateful if you left a positive review at iTunes. I would also be grateful for any feedback you might have including suggestions for future shows. I'm not used to interviewing people and I know that I need to work on being more articulate in my interviews.