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Usage of euphemisms
The causes and effects of telling lies
The causes and effects of telling lies
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Recommended: Usage of euphemisms
As John Ruskin once said, “The essence of lying is in deception, not in words.” This essence is debated in “The Ways We Lie”, written by Stephanie Ericsson, and “Doubts about Doublespeak”, written by William Lutz. In “The Ways We Lie”, Ericsson talks about the different ways people lie on a day to day basis. By comparison, in “Doubts about Doublespeak”, Lutz discusses the different forms of doublespeak that many individuals frequently use. Lutz considers doublespeak as a language that distorts the meaning of words in order to deceive another person, and only “pretends to communicate” (83). Although both authors agree that lying is about the use of deceptive language, Ericsson describes this use of language as occasionally being necessary, …show more content…
According to Ericcson, delusion can best be explained through a quote by Eric Hoffer; “We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.” (Ericcson 80). In other words, Ericsson considers delusion as when a man believes what he wants to be the truth in order to make an excuse and justify his actions, which would otherwise be considered harmful towards himself or others. Someone who is considered delusional, as many would call it, is someone who lives in a fantasy world and continuously lies to himself about who he really is. For instance, Ericsson uses the example of an alcoholic who mistakenly deludes himself into actually believing that the troubles going on in his life is a good enough reason to start drinking as opposed to his troubles being the results of the drinking. In these types of situations, Ericsson would probably agree with Lutz that delusion should be considered unjustifiable. As in white lies, Lutz describe delusion as some form of euphemism. They both involve lying, whether to oneself in delusion or somebody else in euphemism, in order avoid “a harsh and distasteful reality” (Lutz 82). However, the difference between Ericsson’s and Lutz’s views is that just as in white lies, Ericsson believes that while delusion can often be harmful and have many negative effects on someone’s life, he can also envision a situation where delusion can be beneficial and therefore justifiable. For instance, Ericsson describes delusion as a surviving tool that everyone uses on a day-to-day basis. He goes on to say that if there were no delusions at all and everybody fully understood all the consequences of their actions such as stockpiling nuclear weapons or global warming, that they wouldn’t be able to “function on a day-day level”, as thinking too much about the possible reality of these events can often be seen as “paralyzing” on the mind
In The Ways We Lie, Stephanie Ericsson expresses the inevitability of lying and the way it is casually incorporated into our everyday lives. She personally brings light to all the forms of lying and some that are often not recognized as a lie. Ericsson questions the reasons and validity behind lies by highlighting the effects and consequences.
Author Allison Kornet in her article (1997) “The Truth about Lying: Has Lying Gotten a Bad Rap” states that deception or lying has become a part of everyone’s life. A person lies or deceives as often as he brushes his teeth or combs his hair. Many psychologists have neglected or ignored the concept of deception or lying and its effects on everyone’s life. Kornet explains that in the previous two to three decades, the psychologists started noticing or analyzing the effects of a person’s deception on others or why a person lies so many times in his day-to-day life. The person might learn lying from childhood
In their essays both Buckley and Ericsson analyze the different ways we use lies to help and hurt our self in our every day lives, and how this effects American culture. Ericsson shows the way lies can , as she puts it, “ lubricate the daily machinery of living”(128). Buckley, on the other hand uses examples of lies as a way to deny himself; and do exactly the opposite of Ericsson. But they both show how we as Americans use lies these ways and others so much that most of us may not realize it.
Viorst opens her article by explaining social lies. She describes these as lies to avoid hurt, such as lying to a cousin by pretending to enjoy dinner. Judith believes they are necessary and acceptable; without them, relationships would be icky and short. By being honest and not telling white lies a person can come off harsh. Furthermore, Viorst thinks that not telling social lies is arrogant.
Both Stephanie Ericsson’s essay “The Way We Lie” and William F. Buckley, Jr.’s essay “Why Don’t We Complain” analyze different ways people use lies to help and hurt themselves in their daily lives and how lies influence American culture. Through personal experience and examples Ericsson showed the way people lie to get what they want or to look more lovely. She showed that it is almost impossible to eliminate lies from people’s lives, how American culture has adopted many lies, and how so much is based on simple, "harmless" lies. In Buckley’s essay, he is uncomfortable that in some situations people do not complain. They could use their complaints to make some change. When people are used to keeping silent avoid problems or waiting someone else to solve the problem.
That, like unreliable narrators, individuals often ‘lie’ to themselves in order to cover up the actual
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
The society that we live in today is built around lies. Banks lying to customers in order to feed the capitalist mindset, politicians lying to citizens in order to gain power, and charities taking donations with open arms however are stingy when giving back to the cause. The common reason why these organizations lie is to hide what they truly are. People also deceive others in order to hide who they truly are. From a young age, lying becomes engraved into one’s mind, we are taught to walk, talk, and lie.
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
Lying is simply an act of not telling the truth, and this definition of lying will be used in future sections of this paper. There are three groups of lies t...
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
Likewise, deception is also a theme presented in Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. In Vernon God Little, Pierre presents the antagonist Lally as someone who is deceptive in order to manipulate others. Keller and Lally both give an impression different to the true one; they both pretend to be something that they are not. Keller poses as an innocent man and Lally pretends to be a news reporter for ‘CNN’. However, Vernon notices a calling card which tells us Lally’s true identity. When he is asked if it’s his true identity, he says ‘Oh p-lease’ rather than give a clear answer of yes or no; he avoids the question. Pierre’s use of language through Lally illustrates Lally’s lack of sincerity. Lally’s inability to give a direct answer shows that he is lying because surely if he was not lying he would have no trouble saying ‘no’ straight away. Also the reader can infer that Lally is suggesting that Vernon’s accusation is not serious and that no one would believe him. Lally says ‘Oh p-lease’ as th...
Of all of the things humans do lying has to be one of the most common. There are many different forms of lying, though the worst, is perhaps, dismissal. Dismissal is used in many situations, but one that comes to mind is abusive relationships. According to Stephanie Ericsson in her essay, “The Ways We Lie”, “ it dismisses feelings, perceptions, or even the raw facts of a situation rank as a kind of lie that can do as much damage to a person as any other kind of lie” (477-28). If it can cause that much damage it must certainly be a very harsh kind of lying.
Toma, C. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2012). What lies beneath: The linguistic traces of deception in
Deception on the other hand has been a traditional component on human behavior. Indeed, many argue that it is intrinsic to all human communication. It is sometimes mistakenly with unintentional conception or misinformation. Many researchers have attempted to define what deception is and their definition varies. But in the simplest way deception can be defined as the act of misleading or elude someone into believing a lie or a false