http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?021028fa_fact Delivering bad news: “There were several ways that I could answer Peter’s question. I could give the bald statistics—that more than fifty per cent of people with cancer like Maxine’s die within two years—or I could put it more gently, and say that she had a chance, if a low one, of surviving for more than two years. I could even say, somewhat vaguely, that she was young and strong and had as good a chance as anyone of surviving, on the principle that she would benefit more from encouragement than from statistics. As I looked at Maxine, I sensed that she preferred neither the extreme of ignorance nor the extreme of excruciating detail but some middle ground.”
(I sometimes get annoyed when people complain about how politicians spin facts, or how advertisters spin facts—because the thing is, we all spin, all the time. There’s always lots of different ways to tell the whole truth—spin is the approach least upsetting, most comforting, most reassuring.) 12:54