People who spread lies and deceive others are treated with contempt by society, and rightfully so. But what happens when the people we lie to and deceive are ourselves? Using the case of Walter Mitties as a starting point, we explore the prevalence of exaggeration, fantasy and our inner selves.

In this week’s episode, we look at figments of the imagination. We discuss Herbie Popnecker, differences between US and UK attitudes to military valorisation, virtue imposters, intention vs self-delusion, cosplay, Aesop’s Fox and the Grapes fable, catfishing, authenticity and status. Finally, we reveal the biggest self-serving exaggerations we committed ourselves

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- The military imposters who can’t resist wearing an unearned medal https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/01/military-imposters-unearned-medal-nick-adderley/

- Waltenkommando https://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Waltenkommando

- Alan Mcilwraith https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alan_Mcilwraith&oldid=25222978

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