“It will all come out in the wash.” ~ Cervante (Don Quixote), translation varies
I used to assume this meant that the dirt and stains would magically disappear, but once I had kids I realized “going through the wash” revealed things you didn’t know were there, like rocks and small toys and crayons in tiny pockets. Sometimes riches — stray dollar bills and random coins — were exposed. As my children grew it meant finding things that were presumed lost like headphones, keys and the occasional cell phone, which usually resulted in a heated discussion about whose responsibility it was to check pockets.
In a time of tremendous confusion, distraction and deception, it’s getting harder and harder to determine the undercurrents and secret agendas that lurk in hidden places. The advent of artificial intelligence and new tech tools has made it incredibly easy to be duped by bad actors who play on fear and prejudice for their own ends.
It’s tempting to smirk at those folks who crash their computers with malware by clicking on a link that promised them a prize or wonder how someone could fall for a romance scam that siphoned all their money from their bank account. And yet, we’re all at risk.
The phishing scams are getting harder to recognize, we don’t see the sources behind the memes or the AI imagery purposely designed to sway our opinions and perceptions of reality, and we’re scrolling so fast through so much information we rarely slow down long enough to notice that celebrity has six fingers instead of five in that strangely perfect image.
It’s frustrating. It’s a warning. And there’s not much we can do except wait for the truth to “come out in the wash.” Let’s hope it comes out in the form of loose change, not orange crayons in a hot dryer full of white clothes.
