Still Tell The Truth Analysis

How often do we lie and never consider the outcomes? In her essay, “The Ways We Lie,” Stephanie Ericsson explores the different types of lies and the consequences of their usage. She effectively provides anecdotal and factual evidence to support her definitions of lies.

The mere concept of a compulsive or pathological liar is often repulsive to most of us, but the truth is, many of us aren’t that far from crossing that bridge. In her essay, “The Ways We Lie”, Stephanie Ericsson analyzes not only the many occasions in which we lie, but also the meaning and consequences of those lies. Although Ericsson’s definitions are well articulated, the evidence she employs to support many of her statements lack depth.

In this article Stephanie Ericsson quoted "We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare people's feelings, we conveniently forget, we keep secrets, small falsehoods and still think of myself as an honest person." She said that these lies don't hurt anyone mentally but she also feels they might really do hurt mentally. The answer to that question is when someone lies to their victim; the victim loses

Leah Lohse Mrs. Drexler English 11 Honors 4 8 December 2017 Title Understanding how someone can tell so many lies and never feel bad about it is difficult. Many people are not trustworthy in society today.

About 60% of adults can't have a ten minute conversation without lying at least once. In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, a character named Christopher Boone has showed me the ideas of lies. In the story, Christopher suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a disorder that 68 million people have. This disability makes it harder for Christopher to talk, makes his coordination poorer, both of which might lead to depression. I found that Christopher is lied to on multiple occasions in the book, mostly by people who are closest to him. These lies were usually made for good intentions, fixing broken trust, or to cover up mistakes made.

“Like most people, I indulge in small falsehoods and still think of myself as an honest person. Sure I lie, but it doesn’t hurt anything. Or does it” (3)? The selection lists ten types of lies. Those types are: the white lie, facades, ignoring the plain facts, deflecting, omission, stereotypes and cliché, groupthink, out-and-out lies, dismissal, and delusion. The white lie is used when the truth is more harmful than a lie. A facade is when you hide your true self and put on a mask for

When we lie, we only set ourselves up because the one whom you lie to will eventually be told the truth and it will hurt twice as much than if they had heard it before. For example, when I was younger, my father always told me my mother left; however, he did not know why. Consequently, I had given the benefit of the doubt to my mother and pictured her as one who left because she was forced to. In effect, once my godmother told me the truth behind why she left, I developed a sort of inner conflict and hurt. As a result, because I was lied to for so long I still carry the hurt from an event so long ago. In summation, due to

“One lie has the power to tarnish a thousand truths” this quote was said by Al David. The only one lie can change all the truth, no matter what the reason why that the person wants to lie. After that lie already come out, no one will believed the truth that had come after because they already believe in “lie” that we already said in the first place. Most people lie to protect themseleve because nobody wants to get in the trouble. I believe that when you are young, you must have break your parents’ ceramic cup and told them that your cat break it.

In the first article from NBC, it talks about lying being used to protect relationships. For example, instead of telling your partner you disagree with what they said and start and argument, you’d keep quiet to avoid fighting and hurt feelings. Also, in Ballinger’s article, it explains how most lies should be shut out except for ones used

These forms of lying take the attention off the liar by either pushing the blame towards the victim, or seemingly ignore the issue that the lie is covering up. There are other lies that are a combination of other types of lies. For example, delusion, which is the use of excuses to defend lies, is a branch off of dismissal. Ericsson also points out that “groupthink”, which is lying to remain loyal to a community, is a mixture of ignoring facts, omission, and other types of lies written about in the essay.

“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.

Ever since birth, people are told about lying and how it is something bad. Lying is projected as something that only can hurt people. Instead the slogan “Honesty is the best policy” is ingrained in their heads so that they are raised up to become honest people. Except not all lying is bad. Mark Twain shows this in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Huck and many others lie throughout the whole novel. In the case of Huck, lying is what saves him and frees him from his grim situations. So lying itself is not that bad if it can save someone's life. This controversy over a good lie and a bad lie connect to the binary of appearances vs reality. As society’s appearance to the outside world is simply a lie to hide the horrors of slavery that

Deception occurs when information is knowingly and intentionally for the purpose of creating a false belief in the receiver (Floyd, 2016 p.375). Depending on an individual’s upbringing lying can have someone felling guilt and nervousness. Lies allow us to be afraid of the truth while we try to find an escape from the problem. Growing up I can recall how worried I felt when I told a lie, that fear of being caught and the consequences that might come from someone finding out. Now as I grow old my feelings are still in the same place, however, I my learning through my experiences that lying doesn't just deceive the receiver but I can deceive myself. I feel regret when I tell a lie no matter the reason or circumstances it can never be rationalized, I’m still creating a false reality.

Should we stop lying and should stop letting people lie to us? In “The Ways We Lie”, Stephanie Ericsson describes lying as “a cultural cancer that… reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish” (Ericsson 186). Ericsson believes that we have accepted lies to the point where do not recognize it anymore. Ericsson has a point when she says that lying should not be tolerated, but it should be the unnecessary lies that should not be tolerated. There are lies that are justifiable based on the intent of the person lying. All lies are harmful in their own ways but sometimes we need to lie to protect others and ourselves.

According to Robert Braul “Every lie is two lies, the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it.” So, is it okay to tell white lies? Do you tell white lies for your own sake? Why do you lie even though you know that no matter how big or small your lie is, it is still considered as immoral? Well, according to an article entitled “Tell White Lies (Occasionally)” there are 3 possible reasons why people lie and I agree with the author. I agree with Donald W. McCullough that it is okay to tell white lies when we know that it isn’t the right time, place, and way to tell the truth that sometimes we lie to protect ourselves and not to protect other people, and that we should be careful with the words we say.