The Stereotypes Of Lies In Stephanie Ericicsson's The Ways We Lie

In the short story The Ways We Lie, Stephanie Ericsson describes many different categories of lies. She first starts out explain the little white lie, describing it as a lie which is told when trying to avoid hurting someone. An example she gives in the text is, “telling a friend he looks great when he looks like hell can be based on a decision that the friend needs a compliment more than a frank opinion”(Ericsson, 2004, 121). Ericsson then describes facades, facades according to the Ericsson is when a person shows you what they want you to see, but it’s not the real them. Stating “facades can be destructive because they are used to seduce others into an illusion” (Ericsson, 2004, 122). A perfect example of facades are when a person has to

Omission although having many different meanings can be a lie if someone gives details about a particular event but withholds certain information. What shocked me most about this story is when Ericsson categorized stereotype and clichés as a form of lying. She describes it as “lies of exaggeration, omission, and ignorance” (Ericsson, 2004, 125). What I believe Ericsson is trying to explain is that stereotypes and clichés that we believe, is a form of lying because we are lying to ourselves believing a person of a certain background or job title behaves a certain way because society taught us to believe these things which in fact is a result of our own ignorance. The next category Ericsson describes is groupthink, in groupthink a decision is made as a group no one person is allowed have an opinion everyone must be on the same page. Ericsson describes groupthink as a form of lying because despite the facts a decisions or belief is made based on what looks or sounds good. Out and Out lies is the next category Ericsson describes, now this category can only be described as

In my family the way a females hair looks is very important all of my aunts, cousins, my mom, and myself do our best to keep our hair healthy and looking nice. This of course is not an easy challenge, it’s expected that we shall have a bad hair day every now and then. Trust me every female weather the way their hair looks is important to them or not knows when they are having a bad hair day. Recently one morning I woke up to find my aunt in my living room having a chat with my mom, and the first thing I noticed was how awful my aunts hair looked that day, it was defiantly time for a good wash and condition. So to avoid any confrontation with my aunt I tried my hardest not to stare at this horrible hairdo as I say hello and quickly rush back to my room. Unfortunately things did not go according to plan, of course this is the day my aunt decides she wants to “catch up”. As we sit and chat about the basics of my life such as my relationship status, school, work, and the many other things of my personal life that I don’t feel comfortable sharing with my aunt, I pray that the topic of hair doesn’t come up. One thing about my aunts on my mother side is they cannot handle the truth no matter how much they say they can. If ever you tell them the truth it will almost always end in an argument if the truth is what they believe to be negative or if it’s simply the opposite of what they want to hear. So over the years I have learned telling a little white lie won’t hurt especially