Summary Of The Ways We Lie By Stephanie Ericsson

Lying has is a part of our culture, and it seems as if not a day goes by where you do not lie at all. Our world could not exist as it does, if we lived in a society in which lying did not exist. However as humans, we are prone to lying, because of our need to protect ourselves, or the ones close to us, that we turn to lying in order to either make our lives easier or to avoid problems. Humans have adapted over time into societies where lying is an evolutionary advantage, which has made it a part of our DNA. Even children, as soon as they can talk, are using deception as a way to get what they want, and these children have not even had a chance to learn to lie. Lying also continues throughout our entire lives, because it is not something that we can help, it is a part of who we are. When evaluating the argument Stephanie Ericsson makes in “The Ways We Lie”, regarding the reasons we chose to lie, however it is also important to consider extending the argument to include the idea that lying is not only a daily occurrence, it has also become imbedded into human nature.

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

In 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology, Stephanie Ericsson’s essay “The Ways We Lie” focuses on the many ways society lies today. “We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare people’s feelings, we conveniently forget, we keep secrets, we justify lying to the big-guy institutions” (159). It is common for many people to think of lying exactly how it is on the surface, not telling the truth. Ericsson’s essay forces you to second guess this stereotype and begin to realize that lying is even more prevalent in today’s society than most people might imagine. Looking around today with this mindset would help us make more informed political decisions, better decisions on friends, and better “next-step” positions. Our lives are not horrible places, but better steps for these areas of our lives could improve our lives dramatically.

In Eriksson’s article she shows the reader that lies come in all shapes and sizes. Whether it be a good lie like a white lie or a bad lie like being delusional. She backs up her definitions of lies with examples from her own life to teach you about them. She ends by saying that lies shouldn’t be accepted anymore or we’ll all get so used to it that it’ll become the social norm, she says “Our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish.” (Ericsson, Stephanie. The Ways We Lie. 1992. Print.). It used to be that a good person never lied but now everyone lies it’s just the sad truth. The only good people left in this world are the ones that refuse to lie. It’s gotten to the point where the lines between being a good person or a bad person are getting blurred. We’ve tricked ourselves to believe that having integrity means you can lie every once in a while, which is just false. Being honest and having integrity are one in the same. Integrity to me means being honest all the time, not lying when you can get away with it or you think someone needs it. There are some people that say lying builds character, I think that’s just false. Being Honest and having integrity is one of the best things in the world. Although some people will lie to make themselves seem like better people but ultimately just let you down.

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,

First of the so called white lies are the lies permitted to everyone, and those even thought to children. We have all heard this in a certain time: “Ohh but it’s just a little white lie, he will never know”. Of course as a lie you are still hiding the truth and sooner or later it will come out, thus there are other negative attributes to a lie and even to those small and innocent as a white lie. White lies according to the author, are lies that we are intended to not damage someone else feelings. So far we

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.

Everything conforming anyone’s everyday lives can support this statement in one form or another. Humans whole existence is based and supported by some sort of a lie. Everyone is born with a memory of preconceived lies imprinted in the genes from previous generations. From the time one is a toddle, the mind is already programmed to believe in fairies, gods, goddess, imaginary figures, etc- and this is despite any differences among cultures and traditions. Are the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, The Three Kings, Aphrodite, The Trojan Horse, etc, just to mention few, not good examples of that? Lies are upon what legends and myths are built and/or embellished through history. Where does fantasy end and reality begin?

The best lies are made up of partial-truths. Therefore, white lies must be the same as lies, since both of them tell only part of the truth. Lies are used on purpose, while white lies are used to avoid hurting the feelings of others. The purpose of telling a white lie may be for a good cause, but in the long run, white lies have the same negative effect as lies. In Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time, white lies have the same consequence as lies since they both tear apart Christopher from his parents; this is shown by Christopher’s white lie about going out, Christopher’s dad’s lies about his mom, and Christopher’s definition of love, metaphors, and white lies.

After studying the three articles, “The Lies We Persist in Telling Ourselves” written by Linda Weltner, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King, and Brent Staples’ “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” it was difficult to decide which one to expand on. The more I scrutinized over their work, the more aggravated I became concerning Linda Weltner’s mentality on how advertising does not affect her. Weltner is very much convinced that she “had purchased not for [her], but for the woman [she] would like to be”(Weltner 1) although to get the concept, would it not have to be through a form of advertisement?

You think, you know every trick for weight loss, but the fat still "sticking" on you? Tips on losing excess weight is often not sufficiently tested, so when it can happen, we give up of our own goal because we do not see any results.

The movie The Good Lie directed by Philippe Falardeau tells us a story about love, sacrifice, and salvation, that happened in a group of “Lost boys and girls of Sudan”. On the path of escaping from the civil war, little Mamere incautiously exposes the marching group’s hiding place. At the urgent moment, Theo stands up and tells the soldiers a lie, “I am here, nobody else”, and was taken away. Many years later, the orphans get an opportunity to start their new life in America. Accompanying challenges and struggles of merging into the new world, the loss of Theo is an essential pain for each of them.

In the age of information and technology, the general public is bombarded with facts and figures several times a day. It is absolutely essential for one to learn how to take these kinds of stats and data. If a person does not understand that not all the numbers that are being thrown around are not entirely what they seem, an individual can start getting persuaded of false claims and notions. In his book A field guide to lies, Daniel Levitin trains his readers to be prepared to take on this bombardment of numbers. Also, he reveals the reality of a lot of these stats and how people and agencies do not show the true form of these numbers or if they are even really true or just straight up falsified. There are many great points in this book of

Yeah, sure, life is hard. Bad things happen. People say mean things. People lie. More bad things happen. People die. They betray you. You feel alone.

White lies are defined as diplomatic or well-intentioned deception. There are many different types of white lies that are told, such as, lies of flattery for example; if someone gives another person a gift and the gift was not what the person wanted, this person would reply “thank you so much! I just love it!” This type of white lie is told because telling someone