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The advantage of lying
Advantages and disadvantages of lies
The advantage of lying
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Children are taught by adults from a young age not to lie; that “honesty if the best policy.” However, on a regular basis, more than half of adults are dishonest. Our world consist of people who do not tell the truth, and the naive people who believe their false statements.
When I was in third grade, I tried out for the Wizard of Oz, our school musical. I really wanted to be Dorothy, but everyone kept telling me 5th graders get the lead, you will never have a chance. Little did they know my hard work paid off, and I got cast as the lead. I spent weeks looking for the perfect costume and got my mom to do my hair every night, so on the day of the show it would be perfect. I made sure to plan voice lessons with my singing teacher Mrs. Toil and never missed one minute of after school practice. In
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Reflecting upon my story, a normal reader would see it as a little girl who worked hard and proved everyone wrong, however when I look at it, I know more than half of it is a complete lie. Yes, in third grade I did try out for the Wizard of Oz, but certainly did not want to be Dorothy, I wanted to be Toto. However, I got cast in ensemble as an ozion. I did not spent weeks looking for a costume, but instead found green clothes from closet and threw them on the day of the show. Another lie, I did not plan voice lessons with Mrs. Toil, because Mrs. Toil is simply not a person. Did you know “60% of adults can’t have a ten minute conversation without lying at least once?” (Benjamin 2).Most of these lies, like mine, are not major, but are used to make a person paint himself in a better light . Whether they are are major or minor lies, everyday we are surrounded by a cloud of dishonesty and hidden from the truth. According to the study conducted by the University of Massachusetts in 2002, which provided the
Everyone will remember the story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; lovely Dorothy gets swept away by a terrible tornado, lands in a town full of little munchkins, marches down a yellow brick road and meets a scarecrow, a tin man, and lion, is almost killed by a wicked witch, then finally makes her way back to Kansas by clicking her hills three times saying, “I wish I were home”. But is that really the entire story? Shouldn’t there be more? Well, to answer that question, there is more to this story. It’s not just about a girl from Kansas getting swept away by a tornado to the wonderful Land of Oz. L. Frank Baum painted a beautiful picture of life and politics in America during the late 1800s. Being a political man himself, it was right and just for him to include this in this timeless classic. Each person in the novel represents someone or something during this time in American history. Each of the main characters and places will be discussed, Kansas, Dorothy, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, the Companions, and the Wizard
Author Allison Kornet in her article (1997) “The Truth about Lying: Has Lying Gotten a Bad Rap” states that deception or lying has become a part of everyone’s life. A person lies or deceives as often as he brushes his teeth or combs his hair. Many psychologists have neglected or ignored the concept of deception or lying and its effects on everyone’s life. Kornet explains that in the previous two to three decades, the psychologists started noticing or analyzing the effects of a person’s deception on others or why a person lies so many times in his day-to-day life. The person might learn lying from childhood
Ericsson argued that “telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible” (159). Lies are part of everyday life, like drinking coffee for breakfast. For Barkley, lies became a stifling part of his life. The two authors explained how lies can impact a society.
When confronted with a problem, why does the human brain default to lying? Dishonesty is never a solution, although it may seem like the best option in the spur of a moment. My grandma always gave the example of her youth: she avoided and deceived her friend’s sister because the little girl riled everyone. Come to find out, the sister passed the following month due to an illness. I could never imagine the guilt she experienced. Nevertheless, everyone has been deceitful before and many characters were in the tragedy, The Crucible, by playwright Arthur Miller. Reasons for lying are understandable, but most people will admit that mendacity has only caused pain. Lying’s outcome is never positive: it may seem like a good option, for falsehood can save a person’s life, benefit someone, and it eases stress, but these are all transitory.
American writer and speaker, Dorothy Allison, once said “things come apart so easily when they have been held together by lies” (Allison). One of the first lessons that kids are taught is to be honest and always tell the truth. Being honest is not always easy, but the result of lying is much worse then telling the truth. In Animal Farm, George Orwell demonstrates how lies and deceit will ruin society if everyone always believes what the leader says, people lie to themself, and if laws are changed to benefit the group in power.
In “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, the author uses her knowledge to talk about the different ways of lies and how those lies affect the liar, as well as the people who had been told lies. According to the author’s essay, there are 10 types of lies that people encounter every single day: the White Lie, Facades, Ignoring the Plain Facts, Deflecting, Omission, Stereotypes and Cliches, Groupthink, Out-and-Out Lies, Dismissal, and Delusion. Throughout the essay, it is connoted that people are lying in various ways even though they are not intended to. I had been taught that lying is a bad habit. According to Ericsson, there are many types of lie and I did three of them in my life: the White Lie, Omission, and Out-and-Out Lies; however, I can defend my lies for good purposes.
When initially asked about the morality of lying, it is easy for one to condemn it for being wrong or even corrupt. However, those asked are generally guilty of the crime on a daily basis. Lying is, unfortunately, a normal aspect of everyday life. In the essay “The Ways We Lie,” author Stephanie Ericsson makes note of the most common types of lies along with their consequences. By ordering the categories from least to most severe, she expresses the idea that lies enshroud our daily lives to the extent that we can no longer between fact and fiction. To fully bring this argument into perspective, Ericsson utilizes metaphor, rhetorical questions, and allusion.
... false confessions: current research, practice, and policy recommendations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010. Print.
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
Just Tell Me The Truth Telling the truth can have some consequences, but a lie can cause more damage in a relationship once it has been figured out. People believe that by just lying, a problem is solved, but problems start when lies are told. Lying destroys relationships and truth builds honest relationships which, can last forever. In both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Rob Marshall’s Chicago, characters lie because they feel that it is easier. However, lying leads to a downward spiral.
Deception is a part of everyday life. Whether it be a couple lying to each other or an infomercial claiming something is true when it is false, deception has always been an oppressive part of society. For years, people have lied to each other. Ancient and modern day relationships have experienced turmoil caused by deceit. In these myths, characteristics of present day humans shine through because they are the ones writing the myths.
Everyone lies throughout their lives. As humans we can’t help it. Lies may help us to reach new opportunities or could allow us to avoid responsibilities. As human we may lie because we have realized something we could do better in a given situation that we did not do. Dishonesty is a temptation that we, as humans, cannot resist.
When I was in sixth grade, I met a really cool girl named Lilly and started to be her friend. As time went on, she started telling me unrealistic thing about herself, and she claimed they were true. For example, one day Lily came up to me and said, "Hey Haylee, can I tell you something?" So I agreed to listened to what she had to say and she replied saying, "I am secretly a mermaid and a vampire. I know you probably won't believe me, but it's true." I was shocked that she had told me that, and I knew it wasn't true so I asked for proof. Every time I would ask, she would make up some excuse of why she couldn't show me at that time; one time, she told me that she could only turn into a mermaid in salt water at the beach. I knew this wasn't true because I had gone to the beach before and she was definitely human the whole time. She lied so much that I thought that I would never meet anyone as unreliable as Lily until I read, "Tell Tale Heart" and "Zoo". The characters in these stories were unreliable because when they would tell things from their points of view, t...