" Liar, liar pants on fire." this is an old children’s rhyme from long ago, who would have thought that we would have to re-think these words, is it child's play or not. To tell the truth is to be free to speak with and hear with an open mind. One must see the world clearly and understand the dynamics of there actions and of others around them. But this is clearly not the case; we lie every day, every minute, all the time. Big lies, little lies, red lies, blue lies, here we go again Dr. Seuss-ing our selves once more. It is time to open our eyes to the fact that lies have become a part of our every day life. Lies come in many different forms, shapes and sizes, let me share with you some of the different ways we choose lying.
In the book Companion Though the Darkness by Stephanie Ericsson she creates notes from that came The Way We Lie, in this she has broken lies down into ten different ways that we lie.
a) The White Lie, assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple, harmless untruth.
b) Facades this is that bullshit costume we put on to appear as someone else.
c) Ignoring the plain facts may not in and of itself be a form of lying, but we must consider the context of the situation.
d) Deflecting, appear up front about an issue, let others assume and reveal nothing always keeping something hidden.
e) Omission involves telling most of the truth minus one or two key facts, whose absence changes the story completely.
f) Stereotypes and Cliché’s serve a purpose as a form of shorthand, opinion does not exist, the status quo becomes, and all originality is discouraged.
g) Group think, defines this sort of lie as a psychological phenomenon within decision making groups in which loyalty to the group has become more important then any other value.
h) Out-and -Out lie we know this as the bald-face lie
i) Dismissal, dismissing feelings, perceptions, or raw facts of a situation.
j) Delusion the tendency to see excuses as facts.
This is one hell of a list, and it could go on but this is more then a mouth full. What is the deeper meaning behind the lie? In fact it is the truth. Sounds funny but the fact is that the deep seeded meaning behind a lie is the need to bare the truth, we must unfold the lie, re-set the lie to find the truth barely beneath a pail of lies. You would think that we would just tell the truth, seems easier but in fact not. Our feeling and emotions get in the way of this thinking creating the lie.
The lie was born from fear, sadness, shame and low self worth; everyone carries this at one time or another. It is in how we think. George Layoff said," don't think of an elephant! Know your values and frame your words." This means if we took the time to see the true value of our words and in the way we used them the lie would soon melt away, in theory. It's all in our thinking, framing is a form of thinking (the way we are wired, our brains), key words create a path-way to witch we think or see thoughts in our brain. The lie comes as a safety net in times of stress. We fall short working from our reptilian brain (flight, fright, or fight) this from cognate thinking, early thought. If we could learn to choose our words with more care the threads we woven our lives with would not be so knotted up. Sound easy but history has shown us that it is not the case. Lies have been here for all of time, man has given lies a home resting on our thoughts, feeling, and security, be them a little white lie or one big fat out of line lie, its all bad. But we still feed the lie keeping it alive.
Lies create Laws, political platforms, death and an unwilling need to fail, but they can also build stories, write movies, and save lives. It seem odd that something so evil can carry so many faces, we say it's a sin to lie but on the other hand some lies are needed to build a shield to protected the frail and weak. I'd like to share with you a story about a lie the change many lives. About a year ago a friend of mine was told that her boyfriend had AIDS and that she needed to get tested. She found out that she was HIV positive, in sharing this news with her family the people she counted on to be there for her they turned their back on her leaving her feeling lost, lonely and wanting to die. She knew that I had a great deal of gay friends and came to me for help, I gave her hug took her hand a told her that you may be HIV but your still my good friend that this is just a new part of you. We cried together as our tears fell to the ground I came to realize that it could have been AIDS but its not. Today, one year later she is doing great and we still hang out, we look back on that day its ashamed that her family for the most part still disregards her illness and points the finger at her partner instead of being there for her. If she had chosen to lie to her family they would still be helping her out, but she would not have been helping herself. This story is true, and I'm sorry to say but this happens a lot to people with HIV and AIDS, they a forts to lie some people to keep jobs, homes and must important there safety.
We have talked a great deal about the lie, its good and bad. The lie is not going away much the HIV and AIDS they are here for the long hall. In writing this paper I have come to see the lie as just another part of who we are, good, bad or indifferent it’s just the way it is. So in closing I like to say one mans lie might be another mans truth, who is to say.
MLA
Lakoff, George and Howard Dean; don't think of an elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate,Chelsea Green Pulishing. 2004
Aaron, Jane; 40 Model Essays A Portable Anthology, Bedford/St. Martin, Boston 2005
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Lier, Lier
" Lier, lier pants on fire." this is an old children's rhyme from long ago, who would have thought that we would have to re-think these words, is it child's play or not. To tell the truth is to be free to speak with and hear with a open mind. One must see the world clearly and understand the dynamic's of there actions and of others around them. But this is clearly not the case, we lie every day, every minute, all the time. Big lies, little lies, red lies, blue lies, here we go again Dr. Seuss-ing our selves once more. It is time to open our eyes to the fact that lies have become a part of our every day life. Lies come in many different forms, shapes and sizes, let me share with you some of the different ways we choose lying.
In the book Companion Though the Darkness by Stephanie Ericsson she creates notes from that came The Way We Lie , in this she has broken lies down into ten different way that we lie.
a) The White Lie, assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple, harmless untruth.
b) Facades this is that bullshit costume we put on to appear as someone else.
c) Ignoring the plain facts may not in and of itself be a form of lying, but we must consider the context of the situation.
d) Deflecting, appear up front about an issue, let others assume and reveal nothing always keeping something hidden.
e) Omission involves telling most of the truth minus one or two key facts, whose absence changes the story completely.
f) Stereotypes and Cliche's serve a purpose as a form of shorthand, opinion does not exist, the status quo becomes, and all originality is discouraged.
g) Group think, defines this sort of lie as a psychological phenomenon within decision making groups in which loyalty to the group has become more important then any other value.
h) Out-and -Out lie we know this as the bald-face lie
i) Dismissal, dismissing feelings, perceptions, or raw facts of a situation.
j) Delusion the tendency to see excuses as facts.
This is one hell of a list, and it could go on but this is more then a mouth full. What is the deeper meaning behind the lie. In fact it is the truth. Sounds funny but the fact is that the deep seeded meaning behind a lie is the need to bare the truth, we must unfold the lie, re-set the lie to find the truth barely beneath a pail of lies. You would think that we would just tell the truth, seems easier but in fact not. Our feeling and emotions get in the way of this thinking creating the lie.
The lie was born from fear, sadness, shame and low self worth, everyone carries this at one time or another. It is in how we think. George Lakoff said," don't think of an elephant! Know your values and frame your words." This means if we took the time to see the true value of our words and in the way we used them the lie would soon melt away, in theory. ( not done )
In the book Companion Though the Darkness by Stephanie Ericsson she creates notes from that came The Way We Lie , in this she has broken lies down into ten different way that we lie.
a) The White Lie, assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple, harmless untruth.
b) Facades this is that bullshit costume we put on to appear as someone else.
c) Ignoring the plain facts may not in and of itself be a form of lying, but we must consider the context of the situation.
d) Deflecting, appear up front about an issue, let others assume and reveal nothing always keeping something hidden.
e) Omission involves telling most of the truth minus one or two key facts, whose absence changes the story completely.
f) Stereotypes and Cliche's serve a purpose as a form of shorthand, opinion does not exist, the status quo becomes, and all originality is discouraged.
g) Group think, defines this sort of lie as a psychological phenomenon within decision making groups in which loyalty to the group has become more important then any other value.
h) Out-and -Out lie we know this as the bald-face lie
i) Dismissal, dismissing feelings, perceptions, or raw facts of a situation.
j) Delusion the tendency to see excuses as facts.
This is one hell of a list, and it could go on but this is more then a mouth full. What is the deeper meaning behind the lie. In fact it is the truth. Sounds funny but the fact is that the deep seeded meaning behind a lie is the need to bare the truth, we must unfold the lie, re-set the lie to find the truth barely beneath a pail of lies. You would think that we would just tell the truth, seems easier but in fact not. Our feeling and emotions get in the way of this thinking creating the lie.
The lie was born from fear, sadness, shame and low self worth, everyone carries this at one time or another. It is in how we think. George Lakoff said," don't think of an elephant! Know your values and frame your words." This means if we took the time to see the true value of our words and in the way we used them the lie would soon melt away, in theory. ( not done )
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
