Itay Mashiach interviewing Avishai Margalit in Haaretz: ‘Most writers treat manipulation as a cognitive problem: illusion, deception, etc.," Margalit says. "Our argument is different. We see manipulation as a question of power. Historically, the crucial shift was from physical coercion to psychological coercion, from Stalin to Putin.’

Also: ‘There were advantages to the hypocrisy of the old world because at least it was hypocrisy about the right values.’

And: ‘Ideals may tell us something important about what we would like to be. But compromises tell us who we are.’

As well: ‘This society burdened itself with three tensions, any one of which could tear a country apart: Jews and Arabs, Mizrahim and Ashkenazim, religious and secular. So the story is a tough one. It's hard to know whether this society will endure.’

More importantly, what kind of society will endure.

The manipulated will say: we were seduced.

(a sf 2202)