The Ways We Lie By Stephanie Ericsson

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.

Stephanie Ericsson is a writer of all sorts who pulls events from her life to use as starting points for her work. She does this to make everything she writes deeply personal. The essay, “The Ways We Lie” was originally published in the Utne Reader. The Utne Reader is a reader’s digest based out of Topeka, Kansas. It presents new and fresh ideas in art, culture, politics, and spirituality. Utne readers are people who are motivated for social change, and they want to make the world a better place. The readers want to be well rounded on current events. That is what the Utne Reader has provided its readers for over thirty years. It is a combination of reprints and original writings. The Utne Reader is published monthly online for its readers to enjoy (citation). Does the Utne Reader give credit to those whose articles they reprint? How large is the fan base for this digest? Does anyone in our school subscribe to the Utne Reader?

In over a period of years, an increasing amount of attention has been shed to the problem of child sexual abuse in the church. While churches, and other facilities which care for children, have had their experience of this problem, most attention has been brought to the abuse in the Catholic Church. Around the world, case after case has been seen in the press of clergy and members of religious orders being charged with sex offenses against children. Some of these cases go back decades. The issue has certainly brought attention around the world. The reason why, is the question that ponders in everyone mind.

The Ways We Lie addresses the main topic of avoiding the truth promptly. Factions of lying, especially those not ordinarily considered deceit, are presented, and personal anecdotes as well as historical precedents magnify personal appeal along with logic. The purpose of this essay is to encourage people to abstain from dishonesty. For illustration, the author states,”I cannot seem to escape the voice deep inside

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.

As she went into depth explaining each form of lying, Ericsson showcased the varying levels of severity in lying, through examples written in the text. At the beginning of the essay, she writes about lying to a friend by saying she was busy and couldn’t meet up, even though she just wasn’t hungry. Further into the essay while writing about ignoring facts, she writes about how a Catholic Church hired Father Porter, knowing his history of abusing children, which led to more children being harmed. It’s hard to imagine that both of these instances are defined as lies, and it clearly shows the complicated layers of lying that keep all lies from being harmless or bad. Ericsson even shows a mild and more extreme version of the same type of lie. When describing a facade, she writes about how she puts up a facade by wearing suits to work, even though she prefers to stay in her pajamas until the afternoon. Right after, she describes

Each “hearer” also interprets what he hears as a beholder.  Consequently, if an English speaker, or writer desires to convey a message, truth, fiction or nonfiction, entertainment, persuasion, evidence of fact, he must use correct language, perhaps colloquialisms, be aware of the listeners, their education, culture, motivation and attention. The written and spoken language can be used to deceive as well as to inform.  Advertisement, celebrities, leading preachers, politicians are used to provide a single perspective, not thorough information leading to a reasoned conclusion.

In “Sex, lies and communication” by Deborah Tannen she discussed how men and women are different when they have a conversation; both of them have different type of communication. When men and women communicate they do it different, women tend to give detail when they speak in other hand men go straight to the point. Women and men have a lot of misunderstanding because they are so different when they talk. Women and men are different too because their brain. Their brain is develop and connected different which make them each genre at better thing than the opposite sex. How they communicate is different; also, the way their brain is develop make them better and certain things.

The appeal is first accomplished by the organization of the piece. The essay is divided in nine sections based on the type of lie being discussed. Furthermore, the essay is easier to understand when divided in such a way. Historical context is next used, achieving quite a similar purpose to the organization of the piece. For instance, The Attack on Pearl Harbor is brought up when providing an example for groupthink, a type of lie presented in the piece (pg. 165). Because groupthink may be an unfamiliar, perhaps complex, concept for some, this historical context makes the point of groupthink easier to understand, helping the purpose be more accessible and simple. Similarly, the use of anecdotes assists the author in establishing her objective for writing the essay. . An example can be found when author details a time when she found out that some Jewish teachings tell of a woman in the Garden of Eden before Eve and how she felt that she had been spiritually robbed. She details this when describing a lying technique called omission (pg. 163). Since the author gives anecdotes, she makes her points more relatable and helps the audience better understand the points being

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.

The art of deception is an essential skill, especially in moments such as political debates and commercial promotions. In today's society, artifice is a widely utilized skill to persuade the public. The commercial market connects producers to consumers through propaganda which appeals to consumers through elements such as pathos, ethos, and logos. Utilizing these elements, the audience is immediately drawn into the viewpoint of the deceiver. Politicians tried to appear as ordinary and modest as possible to seem more appealing to their audience. But, it can be a deception. As Chris Hedges said in his Empire of Illusion, a story is the best form of artifice because the “consistency and emotional appeal of the story are paramount.” Often politicians tell stories to create a persona making themselves look more trustworthy.

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

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.