Deceiving is Believing
You come through the door to find a look in your friend's eyes, the truth is out. All this time, all those lies; all of it just to make sure that they would not find out, all so they would not develop that shameful look in their eyes. As you walk further into the room, you realize that there was no way to reverse all that has happened, knowing that there was no way to change the one fact that remained, the fact that you lied. Everybody lies, all the time, whether it is rooted from good or bad intentions. It causes problems, to say the least. The average person tells four lies a day, or 1,460 a year for a total of 88,000 by the age of 60, and the most common is: "I'm fine." So why do people lie? It all comes down to the phases of one's self and trying to look good both to ourselves and others. Regardless of how one looks at it, bald-faced lies are detrimental, as they deteriorate the trust and intimacy of one's self and others the glue that forms society. Whether it is a white lie, a superficial lie, or a big lie, it will affect one's self and those around them.
How does lying affect the intimacy of a relationship? Lying is by far one of the most delicate and damaging behaviors possible in a committed, cherished relationship. Some say that intimate relationships are based upon love, charm, or need, but trust is the foundation in any affectionate relationship. What is the ideal way to destroy trust? Tell lies. An example comes from the tale of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” The moral of the story, in essence, is that someone who lies not seldom forfeits trust. The fable ends with the deceiver being eaten up by the same wolf whose presence he had lied about. There are different forms and integrities of lyi...
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...mately become true. One may feel that his or her self esteem is heightened as a result of self-deception but in reality just creates more anxiety and stress. By lying, it creates a perception of what is now required of the person. If one cannot achieve what he or she claimed to be able to do, then it leads to compulsive lying, which ultimately not only hurts one's self but others around that person.
Lying is an intrinsically dishonest practice. Society depends upon trust. Lying corrodes the social bonds and the trust upon which humans rely upon for their continuity. If one cannot trust the people around him, he cannot work with them. Lying breaks that trust, which damages the fabric of society, which hurts one's self and those around him. We are an essentially social, dependent species and therefore we must, as a rule, be honest and truthful with one another.
Lying is bad but the fear that can come from it is worse. Fear can rule a person which drives them to extreme and irrational acts that can shape society in a negative way. We as people are so accustomed to how we should act that during times of fear and crisis our vision is blurred and sometimes our decision making abilities are impaired. We often look past at how much fear can affect us and our society. Starting from Salem 1692 and going to the McCarthy era fear ruled the people and even now in present time America we are constantly living in fear.
The people who claim that they do not lie are probably lying when they say it. Whether it is to deceive authority or just to play a joke on a friend, it is part of human nature to lie. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby takes on a character of wealth and luxury. Gatsby wants to win back his love interest from five years ago, so he secretly becomes wealthy through owning an illegal drug business, using his abundance of money to impress her. In contrast, in Tobias Wolff’s “The Liar,” he tells a story of teenage James as he lies about his life to appear more fascinating. He lies not because he wants to, but because it comes naturally to him. Both stories convey people struggling to find the purpose of their
In “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, the author uses her knowledge to talk about the different ways of lies and how those lies affect the liar, as well as the people who had been told lies. According to the author’s essay, there are 10 types of lies that people encounter every single day: the White Lie, Facades, Ignoring the Plain Facts, Deflecting, Omission, Stereotypes and Cliches, Groupthink, Out-and-Out Lies, Dismissal, and Delusion. Throughout the essay, it is connoted that people are lying in various ways even though they are not intended to. I had been taught that lying is a bad habit. According to Ericsson, there are many types of lie and I did three of them in my life: the White Lie, Omission, and Out-and-Out Lies; however, I can defend my lies for good purposes.
A German philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” People lie. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (CIDN) by Mark Haddon addresses this by conveying a story based on the fact that each person lies about something. A boy named Christopher is faced with the challenge of discovering the truth about the death of a neighbor’s dog, his father’s secrets, and where his mom is. The variations as to why people tell lies are determined through how they feel it will affect those involved. Through these actions, we can see how our words negatively affect others and ruin our relationships. The main reasons people feel compelled to tell lies are because
Telling the truth can have some consequences, but a lie can cause more damage in a relationship once it has been figured out. People believe that by just lying, a problem is solved, but problems start when lies are told. Lying destroys relationships and truth builds honest relationships which, can last forever. In both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Rob Marshall’s Chicago, characters lie because they feel that it is easier. However, lying leads to a downward- spiral. The society we live in can either lead us to a complicated relationship with the truth or easygoing. The problem with constantly telling lies is that it starts off with one, then leads to another until everything you say is a lie. Being truthful
When confronted with a problem, why does the human brain default to lying? Dishonesty is never a solution, although it may seem like the best option in the spur of a moment. My grandma always gave the example of her youth: she avoided and deceived her friend’s sister because the little girl riled everyone. Come to find out, the sister passed the following month due to an illness. I could never imagine the guilt she experienced. Nevertheless, everyone has been deceitful before and many characters were in the tragedy, The Crucible, by playwright Arthur Miller. Reasons for lying are understandable, but most people will admit that mendacity has only caused pain. Lying’s outcome is never positive: it may seem like a good option, for falsehood can save a person’s life, benefit someone, and it eases stress, but these are all transitory.
The article, “Is Lying Bad for Us,” accurately describes the intentions of a “liar.” The author says, “Though liars do not tell the truth, they care about it, while the bullshitter does not even care about the truth and seeks merely to impress” (Gunderman). This statement proves that lying should not be viewed as out of the ordinary, or unacceptable, and that liars should not be viewed as bad people. Lying can be shown as a way of protecting or caring
If you have ever imagined exchanging the life you have for the life you have always dreamed of having, at some point, you may have lied to someone or even pretended to be someone who actually you are not. What is a lie? Why has lying become such an essential part of our everyday life? Do we really need to lie? Why do people appear to be something they are not? Does it make them feel better about themselves or does it make them have something to hide behind? People have been trying to find answers to all these questions for many years. However, having not found truth, people continue to lie day after day and pretend to be others. Today’s society has drastically changed from being the honest, full-hearted, loving people to being people who
These types of lies are easily distributed in society by the masses because they sound harmless. Lies aren’t only bad, but they come with a high price. That price is trust, once someone’s trust is broken it takes a lot of time to get it back. “Trust is one thing you can’t put back together once it’s broken” (Berenstain 17).
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
The article “Rejecting All Lies: Immanuel Kant by Sissela Bok also presents the same argument. Sissela Bok presents the ideas and viewpoints of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher. Kant believed that lying was bad and that “truthfulness is statements which cannot be avoided is the formal duty of an individual to everyone, however great may be the disadvantage.” He believed lying was always bad no matter the situation. Kant said that lying “vitiates the source of law,” or makes the source of law weaker. Our whole purpose of the government is to serve justice and if everyone is lying in court, it gets harder to serve justice. The purpose of the government would not be fulfilled if people lie. According to Kant, lying also “harms the liar himself, by destroying his human dignity and making him more worthless even than a small thing.” Kant says lying makes the liar lose his or her pride and honor. And I think it probably makes the liar feel bad and makes them feel guilty. In the article “Teens Do their Share of Lying” by Loretta Ragsdell, a quote from Sabrina, a college freshman, takes about how she lied...
For example, Rebecca recently told her son that there was no more cartoons on the T.V. This connects to my argument because, she is lying to make a more brighter and positive son. This shows that she is making him ready for the future by lying. In addition, If your wife and you are going to a Noble prize, and asks if she looks fat in her dress, you say no. This shows that he is making a positive result between them by lying. What I mean by this is that you should lie to not hurt someone's feelings. So lie only if it is going to make a positive
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
Can you remember the last time someone lied to you? Or how about the last time you lied to someone else? Did you ever stop and ask yourself why? There are so many different reasons that a person might lie. Maybe a lie about something to keep oneself out of trouble, or even a lie to impress other people. But either way there are always going to be serious consequences or effects of lying.
Liars have rumors spread around about how they lie all the time. Nobody wants to talk to them because they won't know if they are lying to them or not. They aren't trusted as much as people who don't lie. Liars never get very far in life and always have a reputation of lying. It's much better to tell the truth and have friends who trust them, rather than lying and having rumors spread around making no one like them.