Lying

Mark Twain once said, "When in doubt, tell the truth." I think he had the right idea about doubt because we rarely ever hear the whole truth anyway. Sometimes I wonder if a "lie" isn't wrong. Social lies are surely less hurtful than truths. "That sweater you bought is awful", is what we are thinking. But socialization teaches us to say, "What a lovely sweater!. Ho devious, a lie wrapped in truth and innocence.

I try to tell the truth in every possible situation, apart from the common social lies everyone tells. It's why some say that I am too blunt or candid. Sometimes, however, the price of the price is too hard on myself or the recipient of the "lie" I would utter. So I have to say what I know isn't true, but will cause the least amount of hurt. There are degrees of lies, some are acceptable, even favored (the social lie) and others are grievous. Lies told to help oneself or injure others are never seen as good. But what is maddening to us all is the half truth (lie).

We hate half truths because they are so hard to detect as lies. Politicians and salesman live in worlds of half truths. That's why we so distrust them. I think we are fooled by politicians as much as by any other profession. That's why we expect them to lie when ever they open their mouths, and it's why they think their lies are harmless.. But why are we angry with them for fulfilling our expectations that they are liars?

I have good instinct and can tell who is lying most of the time, by their look, tone of voice, by remembering their previous statements, and just by "feeling" they are lying. Ironically though, the people we are closest too and most trust are the hardest to detect as lying. Our faith in them blinds us to the possibility that they would betray our trust by lying to us. So we are gullible when someone we like or trust, lies to us and overly suspicious when politicians speak the truth (well, rarely, they do that).

I'm not sure what the point is of my rant here about lying. Uh....you'll just have to "trust" I'm not lying to you about it.