Critically About When We Lie

Lies have been around for as long as people have been. We all lie, whether it is to protect someone we love of to cover up something we don’t want others to know about, it is still lying, and we all do it everyday. Lying has become the new normal for our modern society, so much so, that some of us have lost our morals completely. It is just so much easier and quicker to just lie to someone than to tell the truth, and now you can never tell who is lying to you or who is telling the truth. People use to have morals about lying and many people would feel bad about it and teach their children to never lie, but now in today’s society they just pop out of our mouths like they're nothing. We will never stop lying because it’s easier to live a lie

There comes a time when a doctor, minister or politicians and an individual will tell a lie. It could be a white lie or big lie; most people almost generally resort to lying in certain situation. Often times a lawyer will lie in order to protect his client, or vice versa, a client will tell a lie in order to avoid being incarnated. There are many situations an individual will be placed in, and at some point in a person’s life they will need to tell a lie. Is it appropriate to lie? This is what Sissela Bok writes about in Lying: Moral choice in Public and Private Life. Bok acknowledges that despite numerous religious and moral statements against lying, people will still lie in certain situations. She will discuss and

Lying is evolving into normalcy. Since there are several types of lying, there are loopholes and ways that people defend themselves for telling untruths. For example, we tell lies in order to evade trouble or consequences but tell ourselves that it is better or easier that way. Ericsson claims, “We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, we minimize,

A lie is considered a false statement given to fool someone. At some point throughout the day everyone will stretch the truth. Are lies just really some version of the truth or are they bold and deliberate? Lying is discussed in-depth in "The Ways We Lie" by Stephanie Ericsson and in the article "Is Lying Bad for Us" by Richard Gunderman. The two articles discuss the types of lies, reasons people lie and the consequences suffered by all. It can be determined after reading the texts that lying causes undue stress and telling the truth is beneficial in more ways than one.

In the essay The Ways We Lie, author Stephanie Ericsson writes in depth about the different types of lies used by most people everyday. While listing examples of them, Ericsson questions her own experiences with lying and whether or not it was appropriate. By using hypothetical situations, true accounts, and personal occurrences, she highlights the moral conflicts and consequences that are a result of harmless fibs or impactful deceptions. In an essay detailing the lies told to ourselves and others, Ericsson points out one bold truth; everyone lies. Through her writing, Ericsson causes the reader to look into how they’ve lied in the past and how to effects others and the general greater good of society.

Lies, they're everywhere, are they worth the trouble? Throughout these three articles, “It’s the truth”, “Honestly tell the truth”, and “Rejecting all lies”, the authors precisely analyze who agrees, and who doesn’t agree with lying, and why. Lying may be the first thing to come to mind when in a bad situation, but does anyone realize how much damage it can cause towards the other person or to the liar themselves?

Everyone lies, no one can avoid it. If someone says they have never lied before, they just did. Lying has been a controversial topic of human nature, whether it is considered “evil” or not. It has often been taught that telling the truth is the best thing to do, but this is not always the thing to do. World War I poets express this idea in their poems, literature has described this issue in plays. Even today there are articles written about this topic. Lying is a habit that has become part of society, however, there are cases where concealing the truth seems to be the most appropriate thing to do.

“The Ways We Lie” is an essay written by Stephanie Ericsson, first published in the Utne Reader in 1993. The Utne Reader is an American magazine that publishes pieces from alternative media sources. However, the essay was mostly directed toward people who have told a lie at least once in their life and have may have felt guilty about it. The purpose for the piece was developed using original syntax, logical appeals, and descriptive tropes, the purpose being that one should think twice before telling a lie.

The following essay, of which I have kept a copy, is entirely the work of the undersigned and all sources of ideas and expressions are duly acknowledged in footnotes or endnotes.

After reading both stories, I found that I enjoyed Stephanie Ericsson’s, “The Ways We Lie” the most. This story was very interesting and made me think of many different things. I did not realize that there were so many different ways to lie. I was guilty of doing a few of them. After reading the section about the white lie, I realized that I do this sometimes without even noticing it. Ericsson gives the example of when your friend may look terrible one day, but you tell them that they look nice just so they would feel better. Most people, along with myself, do not see this as a bad thing because you are doing something good for someone else, but either way you are still lying. As I continued reading, I was also shocked about a few parts, especially

We are told from a very young that we should tell the truth, and that lying is wrong; an immoral action which we should not engage in. Yet lying is a large part of daily life, whether it be our lying to others or others lying to us, around us, or lying in ways that affect our lives. Oftentimes, the lies we tell are for social gain; for the purposes of esteem, affection, or respect. We lie as a way to manage others impressions of us. Studies have found that women are generally more intimate in their interactions, which would suggest that they lie less. However, might women lie more to benefit others, as opposed to self-centered lies? A study by DePaul et al. (1996) set out to answers questions about the frequency of lying, types of lies told,

Friends are an important part of people life; however, anyone should lie to make them happy. I believe that telling someone the truth is always important due to is a way of keeping friends and knowing them better. It is better to tell them what you think about them instead of telling them what they want to hear. There are many ways of telling people the truth and not doing it by flattering because later might regret about what the person said. I strongly believe that there are three ways of telling the people the truth than having them as an enemy such as, critics, hurting, and deceiving them.

After submitting my mini essay and rereading it, I realized there are a couple things I could improve on. One being eliminating passive sentences. I could work on this by finding worksheets or lessons on passive sentences and practice identifying them and changing them to active. Learning how to avoid passive voice will help make my writing more clear, helping the readers understand my points easier. Additionally, it will help make my arguments sound stronger and keeps the sentences from being too wordy and becoming confusing. Eliminating passive voice will help make my writing more direct and clear and overall help improve my writing.

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children,” Mahatma Gandhi. This is very important as we look into the life of a child. The events that are put in place for a child in its early stages, can effect who they will be years to come. The years between 6 and 14—middle childhood and early adolescence—are a time of important developmental advances that establish children’s sense of identity (Eccles). During these times the children are trying to find themselves in school, and in the home, but the three things that are stunting a great childhood are; childhood deliquesce, the care taking and education in the school system, and the child’s home life.

Everyone has come to a crossroad at some point in their life where they have to either face a harsh reality or hide behind a beautiful lie. At first glance the lie always looks great, and will usually make the situation better, at least in the moment. However, we end up looking back on all of the times we lied and got in trouble for it: the beatings we have taken for telling a lie, the times we have gotten our phone taken away, and most of all the friends we have lost for having the truth come out later. But maybe all of those people were wrong, ironically they stopped us from believing the truth about the truth for all those years. The truth does not matter because sometimes you never really know what is the truth, people believe what the want, and often times telling the truth is boring.