The Ways We Lie By Stephanie Ericsson

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 her paper, The right to lie: Kant on dealing with evil, Christine Korsgaard offers an example in which lying is morally permissible under one formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative yet not another. From this Korsgaard concludes that Kant’s formulations of Universal Law and of Humanity as an End in Itself are not equivalent, and that one is more strict than the other. In this paper I will present Korsgaard's example and then use her interpretation of the Formulation of Universal Law to evaluate what it would prescribe as the correct responses to three additional cases.

The history of publishing has been plagued with literary hoaxes — from the somewhat harmless Ern Malley hoax to the most recent Belle Gibson scandal. Unfortunately literary hoaxes will continue to happen, unless publishers begin to fact check manuscripts before publication. Publishers claim they are unable to do this due to the financial cost of the procedure and this is a believable claim. If you spoke to an average person they would say that the print industry is dying, thanks to the rise of digital technology, and there has been a downturn in profits.

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

In discussions on the topic of lying, a controversial issue has been whether there is justification of lying or not. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of if there is ever a time when a lie can be told for the good of someone else. Whereas some are convinced that lies should never be told, others agree that there are certain instances where lying is acceptable because the liar protects the one lied to. In the essay “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, she explores the types of lies and how they affect everyday people. In Anton Chekhov’s fictional story, “The Lady with the Dog,” he displays two characters, Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna, lying for love and to avoid consequence by their spouses. I stand against lying for the benefit of oneself because I think that it has the ability to ruin relationships or friendships and is hard to keep up the lies which leads to creating more lies. Although some people think that there are circumstances that warrant lying, I claim that no one should lie because lies end up hurting both people involved: the liar and the person lied to.

Ericsson structures her writing through subheadings, and categorizing each lie with insightful examples. The author first tackles the white lie. She writes, “The white lie assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple harmless untruth… it as an act of subtle arrogance for anyone to decide what is best for someone else” (160). I believe white lies can only do as much damage compared to the extent of the lie. I tell my mom I’ve done a chore, which I haven't yet, but if she were to arrive earlier I would be in trouble for lying. The lie was intended to be harmless, but I faced the consequences. If I had told the truth I would not have to face as much anger from my mother. Nevertheless, even the smallest white lies end up with negative outcomes. One’s intentions could also cloud the fact that the white lie might harm the other party. The example of the sergeant’s white lie, where he reports the soldier as missing instead of dead, shows how such a small lie can impact

The reasons people lie vary, but can be distinguished into lies that are for personal benefit or for someone else’s benefit; because humans tend to be selfish creatures, the first category is more

The methods in which men and women communicate are eminently different. This being so, their external state is an indicator of their inner state, but men and women have different external states to express themselves. This is especially evident among children and individuals in relationships, and altered between a couple who tries to adjust their behavior. Deborah Tannen, the author of “Sex, Lies, and Conversation,” argues that boys are girls are taught to have a differ inner state, that males and females usually have the same inner state but express them differently when communicating, and that individuals in romantic relationships can alter the way they present their outer state to represent their inner state in a way their partner can relate to.

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?

In this essay, The Ways We Lie, Ericsson writes examples of lies we tell daily. She explains that not all the lies we tell are intentional. We choose to make life easier by lying. This essay also highlights situations that occur in everyday life. Ericson explains that “The white lie assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple, harmless untruth.” (89) She then continue to explain that a “white lie” can be dangerous simply because telling the truth could ease a lot of pain.

Ericsson first uses metaphors to establish her purpose for writing the essay. As an example, the author says “Unfortunately, it [stereotype] often shuts down the original thinking, giving those hungry for the truth a candy bar of misinformation instead of a balanced meal.” (pg. 164). By using metaphors, the author allows the readers minds to wander and think about what is being said in a way they can easily comprehend. Next, the author uses hyperbole to dramatize her points. An example of this would be “I once tried going a week without telling a lie, and it was paralyzing” (pg. 159). Hyperboles benefit the essay in that they provide a dramatic contrast, thus allowing the point to stand out more. Finally, there is a profusion of rhetorical questions in “The Ways We Lie”, especially at the beginning and ends of the essay, which assist the author in strengthening the purpose. In fact, Ericsson asks when talking about the consequences of lying and tell the truth: “What far-reaching consequences will I, or others, pay as a result of my lie? Will someone’s trust be destroyed? Will someone else pay my penance because I ducked out?”(pg. 160). Similarly, in the second to last paragraph, the audience is asked how much people will tolerate before they become “sick and tired of being sick and tired” and also when will they stand up and assert their right to trust, “realize the truth is in the fine print” and when will they stop

It is very true that we lie. We lie everyday conscious or unconsciously, anywhere and to anyone. It has become a way of life to many people, when one lies it feels completely normal, actually they don’t feel anything at all. One can be couth lying in any place like work, home and to different person’s friends, family, clients, teachers and even authority. In the preface of the story the author had describe how in a day she had lied a minimum of four times to various people. In spite of this the authors tried a different approach she tried now to go a week without consciously lying, she discovered that it is merely impossible and of course as various negative consequences. So the main topic here could be why do we lie? Thus to know the reason why we like we must first examine the ways we lie, the so commonly ways we lie daily fashion. And to these there are several ways to lie, let’s examine two: The so called “White Lies” and of course the common stereotypes and Clichés.

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.

In today’s American society, lying has become something that we are accustomed to using almost every day without even realizing it. In “The Ways We Lie”, Stephanie Ericsson, screenwriter, advertising copywriter, and writer, elaborates on the act of lying and how it is used by everyone on a daily basis. She comes up with a list of the common, different kinds of lies that we all have told. Furthermore, the text goes in depth about the significance of lying and how it is an essential part of every human’s life. Ericsson’s essay effectively conveys this idea through the use of pathos, logos, ethos, personal examples, rhetorical questions, and analogies which helps the reader better understand the reasoning behind lies and how it affects our

Let’s say that, we always hear lies everywhere. Lies can hurt other people, and lies can be a joke to have fun with everyone. Lies can also be a way to glossing over the fact. Lies can protect who are telling the lie. Everyone lies, although the ideas of lying to people are wrong, but people still lie about anything in their life. In this essay, it will talk about which ways people will lie and how they lie.