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Advantages of deception
The advantage of lying
The advantage of lying
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As Eric Hoffer said, “We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.” Basically, delusion is a powerful lying tool because it filters our information that contradicts we want to believe and it would make us feel more comfortable. Although it seems like lots of benefits to us, I still believe that delusion is the most dangerous lie for society because it will be impossible to be honest with others if we lie to ourselves and myriads of things we want to believe are not real and sometimes those lies will hurt us. Besides, it will make our lives full of lies.
It is an undeniable fact that we are unable to be honest with others if we lie to ourselves. Some individuals say that we can avoid lying to others although we lie to ourselves despite the fact that it is insurmountable. For example, if we were to fully contemplate the consequences of our stockpiles of nuclear weapons or global warming, we could hardly function on a day-to-day level. We don’t want to incorporate that much reality into our lives because to do so would be paralyzing. (From page 167) Obviously, we are unwilling to face the reality, which means we lie to ourselves as well as lie to those people who are not understanding this matter.
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While it may be true that fake things make us more comfortable and happier, this sort of comfort and happiness are extremely dangerous. For instance, Alcoholics who believe that the problems in their lives are legitimate reasons for drinking rather than the results of the drinking offer the classic example of deluded thinking. (From page 167) Eventually, they will keep drinking and die because what they want to believe is not the
22). People mindlessly respond to avoid their true emotions. Truthfully, I was not fine, but exploding inside with nervousness. However, I didn’t attempt to burden anyone with my lack of confidence, so I told this untruth. Even though white lies may be harmless, they can lead to other deceptive lies labeled by the authors as gray, red, blue and colorless lies. Why do we tell lies? Interestingly, according to the (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013), “evolutionary biologists have proposed that Homo sapiens is indeed hard-wired to tell lies,” (page 25). Furthermore, we want to appear favorable to our friends and family and this may pressure us to justify our lies. According to (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013) it is referred to as “impression management,” by social psychologists (p.27). Thus, lies allow others to see us as we want to be seen, such as I wanted the group to see me as a confident person who could handle obstacles and superbly interact with
In The Ways We Lie, Stephanie Ericsson expresses the inevitability of lying and the way it is casually incorporated into our everyday lives. She personally brings light to all the forms of lying and some that are often not recognized as a lie. Ericsson questions the reasons and validity behind lies by highlighting the effects and consequences.
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.
According to Ericcson, delusion can best be explained through a quote by Eric Hoffer; “We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.” (Ericcson 80). In other words, Ericsson considers delusion as when a man believes what he wants to be the truth in order to make an excuse and justify his actions, which would otherwise be considered harmful towards himself or others. Someone who is considered delusional, as many would call it, is someone who lives in a fantasy world and continuously lies to himself about who he really is. For instance, Ericsson uses the example of an alcoholic who mistakenly deludes himself into actually believing that the troubles going on in his life is a good enough reason to start drinking as opposed to his troubles being the results of the drinking. In these types of situations, Ericsson would probably agree with Lutz that delusion should be considered unjustifiable. As in white lies, Lutz describe delusion as some form of euphemism. They both involve lying, whether to oneself in delusion or somebody else in euphemism, in order avoid “a harsh and distasteful reality” (Lutz 82). However, the difference between Ericsson’s and Lutz’s views is that just as in white lies, Ericsson believes that while delusion can often be harmful and have many negative effects on someone’s life, he can also envision a situation where delusion can be beneficial and therefore justifiable. For instance, Ericsson describes delusion as a surviving tool that everyone uses on a day-to-day basis. He goes on to say that if there were no delusions at all and everybody fully understood all the consequences of their actions such as stockpiling nuclear weapons or global warming, that they wouldn’t be able to “function on a day-day level”, as thinking too much about the possible reality of these events can often be seen as “paralyzing” on the mind
The society that we live in today is built around lies. Banks lying to customers in order to feed the capitalist mindset, politicians lying to citizens in order to gain power, and charities taking donations with open arms however are stingy when giving back to the cause. The common reason why these organizations lie is to hide what they truly are. People also deceive others in order to hide who they truly are. From a young age, lying becomes engraved into one’s mind, we are taught to walk, talk, and lie.
Are everyday rituals, such as, facades reflected as to being a lie? Simply preparing for a meeting or interview does not come off as lying, although another type of façade such as when someone asks, “Are you okay,” after a death of someone close to you, in reality it is a form of a lie, because you are not being honest. In Stephanie Erricsson’s article “The Ways We Lie,” she discusses many different types of lying, that most wouldn’t even consider. Ericsson claimed, “But façades can be destructive because they are used to seduce others into an illusion” (409). Depending how a façade is used, the outcome can be beneficial or damaging. There are facades that are used to cover up one’s true feelings, in order to protect an individual and then there is a type in which one puts on a mask to cover up how awful of a person they are. Charity, a former friend, deceived me with the qualities of everything she was not, my mom is a great example of when it comes to hiding when she is saddened. In this article “The Ways We Lie,” Stephanie Ericsson has a great point of view on the destructiveness of facades, although, it can very well be used in a good way just as much as in a bad way, in fact, like my protective mother, using facades for mine and my sisters own good and then a conniving friend using facades in
In “The Ways We Lie”, Ericsson describes the different types of lies: white lie, facades, ignoring
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true” (Kierkegaard)- Misleading oneself by accepting things as true or valid when they are not is a common phenomenon of nearly every human being, especially when faced with life changing of threatening situations. Self-deception can therefore be considered an option to escape reality in order to prevent oneself from dealing with the weight of a situation. Basically, those strong influencing psychological forces keep us from acknowledging a threatening situation or truth. However, oftentimes people do not realize that they are deceiving themselves, for it is mostly the action of the subconscious mind to protect especially the psychological well- being. This psychological state is depicted and in Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. He shows that people try to escape reality and seek refuge in self-deception when confronted with life-threatening situations, through characterization, alternate point of view, and the fluidity of time.
Lying is an issue that has been debated on for a long time. Some people believe that lying is sometimes ok in certain circumstances. Some people believe lying is always acceptable. In contrast, some believe lying is always bad. Keeping all other’s opinions in mind, I believe that lying is a deficient way of solving problems and is a bad thing. I claim that only certain situations allow the usage of lies and that otherwise, lying is bad. Dishonesty is bad because it makes it harder to serve justice, harms the liar individually, and messes up records. Furthermore, it should only be said to protect someone from grave danger.
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.
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
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.
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.”– Harvey Fierstein
In religion particularly deception often exists when someone feels like they have to defend themselves against judgment. This judgment may be from the congregation or from them themselves. When people feel they are on the defense they usually deny the problem or rationalize why it isn’t a problem, which causes them to convince themselves that there isn’t a problem or that the problem is not that bad. As we look at our own lives and the lives and circumstances around us, we clearly see why self-deception exists and how easy it is to participate in self-deception ourselves.
Many believe that self deception is logically or psychologically impossible. Some claim that self deception refers to one or more of four restrictions on perception, none of which need to involve the paradox of simultaneously deceiving or being deceived. First, ignorance resulting from necessarily limited capacity to respond