"I recently found myself returning to an essay from 2000 by Yuri Levada, a pioneering Russian sociologist, called 'The Wily Man.' The essay was Levada’s attempt to understand why so many pathologies of the Soviet era — the propensity for double-think and an adaptive, accommodating response to power — persisted so powerfully in modern Russia. In Levada’s telling, the wily man or woman 'not only tolerates deception, but is willing to be deceived.' Indeed, says Levada, he even 'requires self-deception for the sake of his own self-preservation.'"