Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Summary

“The Ways We Lie” is a name of an article by Stephanie Ericsson. She is also a published free-lance writer. This article is from an American magazine Utne Reader. This article was based off her experience. This article is about the ways we lie and why lies are dangerous. Stephanie Ericsson quoted “We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare people’s feelings, we conveniently forget, we keep secrets, small falsehoods and still think of myself as an honest person.” She said that these lies don’t hurt anyone mentally but she also feels they might really do hurt mentally. The answer to that question is when someone lies to their victim, the victim loses in the progress. The lies she list explain in the article are

1, The White Lie, 2, facades, 3, ignoring the plain facts, 4, Sterotypes and Clichés, 5, Out-and-Out lies. The first lie will now be explained. The white lie is a type of lie that is harmless and safe and that when it is told to the victim it is meant to avoid hurting the victim's feelings. An example of this type of lie is; A Friend could sometimes tell a lie to another friend that they look fabulous but in reality they look dirt ugly. Stephanie Ericsson feels this can be a decision that this friend deserves good feelings and happiness that they look good more than the filthy truth. The liar might think he is helping, but in reality it is a sign of greediness and self-empowerment for anyone to determine what is best for the victim of the lie. The second type of lie will now be explained. Facades are a false appearance that makes someone or something seem more pleasant or better than they really are. Stephanie Ericsson feels that every individual on earth put up facades, one time or another. Stephanie Ericsson feels that facades can be utilized to sway people and induce them to misimpression the real truth and that can get dangerous. An instance of a façade Stephanie Ericsson wrote is; Stephanie Ericsson had an old friend that lied to her he was known as a saucy, good looking head on shoulders guy. When she had some business with him he back stab her in the back. He should have payed her money, but never answered; he was a fictitious persona. He came up with lies to avoid the truth and to pay her. She lost six mouths of work and earned less than hundred bucks. He was a fraud and that was a façade. The third type of lie will now be explained.

Stephanie Ericsson explains that in the 1960’s the Catholic Church in Massachusetts got complaints from church members that Father James Porter was sexually molesting children. Father James Porter was not let go but instead the Catholic Church in Massachusetts, moved him to a new parish between 1960 and 1967. This induced him to have more chance to abuse more children of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts. He was arrested and was treated for pedophilia in 1967. He later moved to Minnesota. Minnesotans diocese was aware of that Father James Porter dirty pedophilia past, but let him go anyway. They needed priests and was too impetuous to believe in the treatment of pedophilia. He was burned a year afterwards and was halted. This lie is simply is when you start out doing something but knowing that it is a lie. Basically What the Catholic Church in Massachusetts and Minnesota did. Now the fourth type of lie will be explained. Stephanie Ericsson wrote that Stereotypes and Cliches are so easy to use that they are used to frequent. The universe is filled with an all types of people and modern times is fast and unrestrained that stereotypes and clichés is sometimes are

unavoidable. To this Stephanie Ericsson feels it simplifies peoples thoughts. Stephanie Ericsson said “All the "isms"—racism, sexism, ageism, et al. —Are founded on and fueled by the stereotype and the cliche, which are lies of exaggeration, omission, and ignorance.” Stephanie Ericsson feels that these types of things are hazardous to human nature and eradicate interest in new thoughts and ideas on how people interact with other people. An example of stereotypes from Stephanie Ericsson is;A single mother on welfare is conjecture of cheating on her husband or boyfriend. Black guy picked out because his skin color. Now the fifth and final type of lie will be explained. Stephanie Ericsson feels that Out-and-Out Lies is her favorite type of lie. This lie means to, straight up tell a lie when it is obvious that you did it. She once saw her five- year nephew who broke a fence and he answered with a lie. She has seen him break the fence so she knew he lied. She calls this a bald-faced lie. This lie can be opposed very clearly. Stephanie Ericsson feels that the bald-faced lie does not trifle with her comprehension, but contend with them figuratively speaking. The person will just say anything so it will look like they didn't do it. The lies listed in this essay is only a few types of lies people tell. Stephanie Ericsson feels that it is not easy to avoid telling a lie to be the victim, but there is a difference telling a lie and living a lie. She feels when people will get bored and exhausted for lying and being a lying to.

You the reader just read a summary of Stephanie Ericsson’s article about the ways we lie. I will explain my thoughts on the subject so stay with me. The article is mostly true in a factual matter. I do feel that lies do hurt the victim that is being lied to. The thing that I don’t like about her feelings on the subject is; The lie type “The White Lie” is true but it can also be false too. I think she is just being a baby on the subject. She is afraid of people getting hurt from someone telling a white lie to a friend, but that is not always the case. People tell white lies all the time and I never see people get hurt. Stephanie Ericsson is just over thinking the fact that white lies are lies and that lies hurt their victims. It is like an OCD person, that over thinks things that are not always true. I have a lot of examples to write about of times a white lie helped instead of causing problems. The example I chose is my favorite one to tell. My family and I went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PGG Aquarium last summer. There were a lot of bees flying around flowers and plants. A fact to mention that is related to the story is my sister is allergic to bees. We were walking around the zoo, seeing the animals in their cages and suddenly a bumble bee landed on my sister’s head. She did not know a bumble bee landed on her head. I was looking around and I noticed that a bumble bee was on her head. Then my sister started to feel something on her head. She asked what it was, afraid to touch it; she asked me what it was. I answered back that it was just her imagination and nothing was on her head. She said ok and kept on walking ahead. After I lied to her, the bumble bee flew away. If I had told the truth, she could have panicked and the bumble bee could have stung her. That white lie could have saved her life because she had no epipen on her. Later that day I told her the truth and she thanked me. She said no hard feelings and the day went on. Stephanie Ericsson’s feeling on the subject could have killed her, so. Stephanie Ericsson’s feeling at that time was not true and I was right. So lies can help sometimes unlike what the author said. I hope you enjoyed the essay and learned a lot.