Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Essay

In “Teens Do Their Share of Lying”, an article written by Loretta Ragsdell reports why, when, and how teenagagers lie, as well as how we learned to lie so well. Ragsdell expresses her discoveries by gather many teens and questioning them on the situations they have told lies in, how they tell their lies and why they believe it is okay to lie in these situations. In conclusion, Ragsdell believes all teens do their share of lying, however, she now knows when, where, why, what, and how teens do their own share of lies.

In the Bible, James 3:8, quoted is “But no human being can tame the tongue, it is a relentless evil, full of deadly poison.” This quote says that lying happens frequently; no one can resist it. It also says lying is deadly, which is also shown in the Bible within the story of Adam and Eve, when the serpent lies to Eve, convincing her to consume the sacred fruit. In modern society, lying is a common practice. A person may lie protect themselves, or to gain something wanted. This may be due to religious diversity or the decay of respect in society.

Similar to Ericsson’s experience in her essay “The Ways We Lie”, telling the truth isn’t always possible. When a person receives a notification for a late fee, the first instinct is to find a way out of the situation with a lie. Knowing that the bill has yet to be paid, the lie is easier than facing the repercussions of the truth. According to Ericsson, “I discovered that telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible” (1). Here, Ericsson expresses that a lie may be the most appropriate response and that nobody can always tell the truth.

Most people tend to believe that lying is a way of life, that without it the whole world could crumble and fall. While some tend to believe that any form of lying is a sin and there should be consequences. One author, Stephanie Ericsson, wrote “The Ways We Lie” published in 1993 she talks about how we all lie, it has become an everyday chore to make life easier. She begins by trying to strengthen the bond between the reader and writer showing how they are one of the same. She does this by referencing past experiences, adding informed opinions, and using quotes from other well acknowledged authors, her argument is strong throughout the whole article that lying isn’t just evil, it can be used for good when used the right way.

In Tobias Wolff’s short story “The Liar,” the protagonist, James, lies to help him construct a new identity outside of his family. James tells morbid lies about his mother in order to distance himself from her. Since, the loss of his father, James no longer associates with people who are like him. The lies started after his father’s death and his mother starts noticing how much differently he was acting. Since his mother is treating him like she is disappointed in him, James begins to devolve into a state of repressed bitterness. These lies are his way of expressing himself in a new reality to match his wishes. One example of this is when James says, “Felt like a failure. My lying had that effect on her. She took it personally… She thought

Lies, fibs, whatever they’re called, they’re considered wrong. But what if a lie was the only way to protect a loved one? Here’s an example:

Many people have told lies and been told lies ,however the biggest lie of all is lying to oneself. Everyone has been told to share the truth because even though the truth will hurt others now, a carried out lie will hurt them a lot more in the future. It 's better to do right than to live in lies such as don 't hide all your faults they won 't just go away, you need to learn from your mistakes. In Les Miserables and The Kite Runner a man 's reputation is not as important as his family. As in giving up yourself for another and to be happy, like leaving your homeland where you are known and in charge to become a working man and make your family happy.

One of the greatest commandments written in history is “Thou Shalt not lie.” From a young age we have been taught of the negative effects of lying. We are taught, as toddlers, not to cheat on tests and punished for our dishonesty when caught. But as we grow older we discover that lying is not as terrible as we were raised to believe. Sometimes lying is safer than the truth. Lying helps us to protect the well-being of family and friends. Deception and secrecy are two major themes of Lois Lowry’s The Giver. While being dishonest is against the rules in The Giver, the survival of the community is dependent on deception and secrecy. Lying is written into the daily lives of the people of the community, and used so commonly that people are not aware

In our society, many people assume that lying is something wrong to do; they use to say that you always have to tell the truth no matter the situation. I believe those people are certainly wrong because it is impossible for any human being to always tell the truth, Mark Twain said “Lying is universal—we all do it.” This world would be so bizarre if everyone would speak only the truth. It is just something that would never happen, but people are fooling themselves thinking that lying is wrong, that we must tell the truth always.

Many people wonder is it wrong to lie or are there some situation where lying is the best option? In the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, Mark Haddon shifts Christopher’s outlook on honesty and changed his outlook dramatically. Many people, including Christopher, believe in the statement “honesty is the best policy.” However while Christopher becomes more independent, he realizes that in some situations being dishonest might be the best answer. When his father lies to Christopher, Christopher follows his father’s actions and starts to comprehend when he must lie. Throughout the course of Christopher’s life, he begins to realize that lying is not always the wrong thing to do.

Today our world is up 24 hours a day. It is transparent with blogs and social networks broadcasting the buzz of a whole new generation of people who have made a choice to live their lives out in the public. It is astonishing that on any given day people lie to us about 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lies are subtle and counterintuitive. In her speech, How to spot a liar, Pamela Meyer presents some insight into the science behind why we lie, whom we lie to, and most importantly, how to seek out the truth and develop trust. Furthermore, she adds that over-sharing is not honesty and that our manic tweeting and texting can blind us from the subtleties of human decency, character, and integrity. Appealing to the audience’s values

In the Ted Talk “How to Spot a Liar” By Pamela Meyer, She spoke about the tells of a liar and why people lie. Meyers had two truths, Truth #1 lying is a cooperative act. The lie has no power until the receiver believes the lie. Everyone who has been lied to has agreed to be lied too, for example when a lady asks her husband if she looks fat in a certain clothing item. Both he and she know that there is only one good answer to that question, the women just gave the man permission to lie to her. Meyer said “lying is an attempt to connect are wishes and our fantasies on who we are with we were and how we wish we could be with what we're really like” meaning, we lie to pretend to be someone we aren't. Then Meyer answered the question of when do we lie? A person can be lied to

Lies play a very large role in this play. As readers, we see what the effects of lying are and what it does to a person’s character. Different things can cause people to lie for different reasons. Even if something terrible happens, is it okay to lie to someone to make them feel better?

In “The Way We Lie”, author Stephanie Ericsson gives her readers a list of ten lie we sometime use it for a purpose and sometime we did not realize we did it. She starts out her story with four lie she used in the same morning as she is starting out her day. She explains these lie are intentionally use to minimize the complications and make the day goes much smoother. However, she questions whether these lie can actually make an impact on the person who carry out and the person who receive the lie.

The Ted Talk “How to Spot a Liar” by Pamela Meyer discusses and compares seeking the truth and seeking the lie. There is not only a strict scientific method to it but a more humanistic approach. Meyer tells us how lie spotters are armed with scientific knowledge on spotting deception (Meyer, 2011). The strongest points of Meyers’ argument are that lying is a cooperative act. If a lie is not believed or believable, it has lost its value. A lie has a perpetrator and a victim and without these characteristics, it’d fail. Lying is also an attempt to bridge a gap that connects our fantasies and reality (Meyer, 2011). When thinking about Schemas, lying has to be the most universally common model. The characteristics of a lie