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.
Deputy Governor Danforth was brought to the village of Salem from boston to convict the “witches” that had been afflicting the young girls in the village. From this description, one might believe that Danforth was sent to do good and believed that he himself was doing good. Although this may have been Danforth’s original intent, as the trials continued he began to prize his image and status over the lives of others in the village. This becomes clear especially when speculation is risen around the girls. Once the thought of the girls being frauds crosses his mind, Danforth immediately jumps to the fact that he mustn’t dirty his name or reputation.
In The Way We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson telling such little white lies is done in order to save someone's feelings from being hurt. Though it could also be argued the person themselves have alternative motives, such as not wanting to be seen as a bad friend or person. While these actions are more or less admirable, it is still nevertheless lying. While Donald Trump's motive for using artifice, is simple, he wants the population to like him and believe he is a good president. His motive are more narcissistic than most, wanting only to be liked, makes him a manipulative liar.
In Ender’s Game, Card argues that lies can be justified for the greater good of an individual. The first example of lies being portrayed as justified for the greater good is when the leaders of the I.F. lie to
Deception is a powerful tool in seeking a certain motive; therefore,
According to Chris Hedges in his excerpt “Empire of Illusion,” “The most essential skill in political theater and a consumer culture is artifice” (Hedges 1). Chris Hedges wrote this book to persuade the audience that the most essential skill a person can have is artifice, the skill of deception. Throughout the excerpt, Hedges covered the important of artifice by detailing the importance of personal narratives, where the reality is irrelevant (prompt). This topic is broadly known as controversial due to the fact that some people believe artifice is necessary to be successful in life. However, others believe there are various other skills one can possess while being just as successful.
The patterns of trust and subsequent betrayal found in the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, serve to teach lessons about what it was like for African Americans in post-slavery America, when the book is set. The Invisible Man trusts easily and naively. Yet, despite working hard, he is betrayed by the institutions and people he looks up to as role models as they exploit his expectations for their own agenda. Overall, there are four strong examples of those taking advantage and hurting the Invisible Man. With each incident, he learns a lesson about how blatantly the black population is disregarded, along with being given an object that represents the underlying racism found in a society.
In great literature there are often characters who are deceitful to others to carry out a greater purpose. By doing so the character often compromises relationships with friends and family but it can also compromise the safety of the character and others around them. In the play Hamlet Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s character to elaborate on this situation, Claudius is deceiving his family and friends for a greater purpose which at times seems to do more bad than good. Claudius deceives many people in the tragedy Hamlet.
Deception comes in many forms and can be seen in all kind of ways but mainly when someone purposely causes someone to believe something that isn 't true to gain a personal advantage. Many authors use this tactic in their plays books and other literary work like in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the author uses the technique of deception to mislead Claudius, Gertrude, himself, Ophelia and his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spare their feelings and to carry out a crime. Hamlet uses deception throughout the novel, but one way is to distract everyone from his true intention which is to gather information against Claudius to prove he killed his father. Shakespeare contributes all this back into his work by making each character in the play enact on some form of deceit to uncover the obscure truth.
Not all forms of deception are negative, although they are not all positive either. People have various reasons for deceiving others in real life, as well as in literature. William Shakespeare wrote many memorable plays during his time living. One of those plays was Much Ado About Nothing, which presented themes which are still relevant to our modern society. In Much Ado About Nothing, some of the protagonists, such as Don Pedro and Benedick, have good intentions when deceiving others, but others, like Don John, deceive others purely out of hatred.
While reading “The Prince,” and beginning to understand Machiavelli’s manner of thinking, many people come to mind. From Princes to Presidents, the tactics that Machiavelli outlines in his famous text are near omnipresent in any person, or institution that relies on maintained power, such as a government. Nonetheless, even outside of politics or king-hood, a deceiver applies the same tactics. “Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool” (Twain). With this quote in mind, allow me to introduce a world-class con man, enthralling many fools & intellectuals alike.
Stephanie Ericsson begins her explorative essay, “The Ways We Lie,” with a personal anecdote of all the lies she fabricated in one day. She told her bank that a deposit was in the mail when it was not, told a client that the traffic had been bad when she was late for other reasons, told her partner that her day was fine when it was really exhausting, and told her friend she was too busy for lunch when she just was not hungry, all in the course of a day. She shifts from talking about herself to talking about everyone, claiming that all people lie, exaggerate, minimize, keep secrets, and tell other lies. But, like herself, most still consider themselves honest people. She describes a week in which she tried to never tell a lie; it was debilitating, she claims.
Lying has not been formally considered morally wrong or right regardless of the severity. Although it’s near impossible to go through a whole day without even stretching the truth once and decide which types of lies are okay or not. Stephanie Ericsson uses strong metaphors and personal experiences in “The Ways We Lie” to justify the use of our everyday lying. This unbiased essay will help readers decide whether it’s okay to lie on a daily basis. Ericsson starts out with saying she told the bank that her deposit was in the mail even though she hadn't written out the check (495).
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, Suleiman is a young boy growing up in Libya during the time of Qaddafi’s reign. Being raised by parents who are dissidents, Suleiman often finds himself surrounded by confusing situations where the line between loyalty and betrayal is blurred. Problems within the family only aid the struggle to determine the difference between betrayal and loyalty. Loyalty and betrayal go hand in hand, often getting confused with each other.
The presentation is memorized and well rehearsed with no clear improvisation. In her presentation Pamela Meyer claims that on any given day we're lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to identify those lie can be inconspicuous and unreasonable. She demonstrates the conduct and "hotspots" used by those trained to recognize deception - and she argues honesty is a value worth saving.