Why I Am a Groupthink Liar

Probably because of my own experience, I somewhat believe that adolescent life transforms people to behave more ‘mature’ by unconsciously gaining the consciousness of groupthink, the kind of lying which is unpremissible but always unavoidable with the proviso “under certain circumstances”. 1 year ago, I went to a school in Beijing as an exchange student. I was invited to vote for the way of class committee members’ selection in a freshman class, the teacher told me it was the first time they did so. I had two choices, “chairman selected by the teacher” or “chairman selected by classmates”. Affected by my three years of Political and Liberal studies in Hong Kong, I unwittingly took it as a question on asking me to choose between a powerful government and a republic system. Certainly I understood a “republic system” would bring positive effects to its people, which, in this circumstance, the students; And it was not only practical on the selection of the class’ chairman, but also meant a more significant change, or changes. I was the last one to vote, previous students all voted for “chairman selected by the teacher”. Eventually, the voting process, end with the self-censorship of my own ideas and ignoring facts, which caused by my loyalty, or perhaps respect to the class, I myself, voted for “selected by teacher” and lied. Somewhat I resonate with Stephanie Erricson’s because of this episode, and it is the reason why I’m holding my pen and going to write the following.

I’m a groupthink liar, who share the same characteristics with Erricsson’s groupthinker. The most obvious characteristic is self-censorship of the liar’s own ideas, which is a result of the groupthinking process, defined by Erricson as “dissent...

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...o be loyal to it as a way of respecting the culture and behaviors of those students, as a result, I voted for “selected by teacher” to show that I agree with their thought, I preferred to lie.

I’m a groupthink liar since I censored my own ideas and ignoring facts to be loyal and respect to the class, as Erricson said “the rest is history”, I can’t vote again in that class, this incident with its result have become a part of my personal history and memories, just like history won’t apologize to the victims and punish the disingenuous demagogue, for me, lying became an uncontroversial fact. I believed that groupthink is unacceptable but really does it unavoidable in this particular circumstance. After all, the rest is history, I farewell to the past and walk forward, let this episode be one of the life lessons, teaches me to understand human nature more deeply.