Telling the Truth

S

Seiji

Guest
Original poster
How strongly do you adhere to the concept of always being truthful and telling the truth?

Can it be wrong or immoral to ever tell the truth? Why, or why not?

Is there ever any justification to tell a lie?


EDIT: Are you lying right now?!
 
It depends on the situation. I usually try to be truthful, but I don't see an issue with the occasional lie. I'll be truthful with the police, significant others, really close friends, and my work (if I screwed something up at work, I'll own up to it. If someone else screwed up, I'll just say I'm not sure what happened). I am almost always truthful with my family, but there are exceptions (this used to be more of an issue when I was younger and smoking pot and drinking alcohol, but as I do neither of those things any more I haven't had to lie to family in a while).

In regards to friends, I try not to lie but I don't see a problem with lying to them. There are some things that don't necessarily concern them and I won't tell them or just omit certain parts of the story if they ask, or if I know that telling them the truth is going to hurt their feelings I'll lie. I do try and be truthful if they need advice though. I used to be brutally honest and it cost me some friends, so I've learned when and where I should lie instead of telling the truth.

edit: It's much easier for me to tell the truth on the internet since I usually don't know any of the people I'm talking to and telling the truth won't have repercussions the way it would in real life.
 
I'm relatively honest, I honestly have no qualms about lying, there's just some people I can't lie to though!

Most of the time if I'm lying it's because I'm working machinations behind the scenes, and have to stay in good graces...I'm not malicious, just...dishonest~
 
^ He's not vicious, or malicious, just de-lovely and delicious.

I adhere to a pretty strict policy of honesty at all times. Lying just makes me feel awful, and I'm not good at it anyway, so I don't even bother. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world when other people lie, though... I don't agree with it, but there are worse things in the world, I guess. The immorality of it depends on what you're lying about, in my opinion.

And I'm pretty cool with not telling the whole truth - I'll leave out key details from what I'm saying, if it helps me avoid a confrontation or buys me some time to think about a solution to the problem.
 
Yes.

I am naturally private and coy. I usually avoid personal questions or give noncommittal answers. But I do lie, often, mostly about myself and how I feel, mostly to my family. It started to avoid conflict, or to hide sides of myself I though they'd misunderstand, or to hide my irrational resentment towards my parents for the sucky childhood I had and the far from secure future I face or to avoid them seeing my pessimistic world view that conflicts with theirs and avoids the ago old "find happiness in the moment" and "glass half full" speech. It gives them a me that they don't try to fix and I'm honestly fine the way I am.

And it just became habit.
 
Tell the truth always. But don't always speak.

I cannot lie for crap. But I've gotten quite proficient at keeping my mouth shut when the truth becomes a liability. Misinformation, lying, and twisting truths ultimately leaves loopholes and weak points that can be exploited or cause a fabrication to fall apart.

It is always far better to CONTROL information (by not speaking or speaking only when needed) than to MANIPULATE it (by lying or giving half-truths).
 
Compulsive and systematic liar, perpetuating fantasy and self-doubt. I don't think I've ever told anyone the real truth about what I'm thinking, where I've come from or what I feel. I probably don't tell myself either, because I sure as hell don't remember.

But so far it's worked out pretty well. I've impressed and tricked the right people into thinking the right things, and spared others from unnecessary harm. Most people don't want to know my real thoughts anyway, because it might interfere with their precious monologues and they also don't want to face the prospect that "truth" is just as much bullshit as "lies".

Human brains aren't built to handle, process or comprehend objective truth. I've accepted that and now craft the best facade as humanly possible.
 
You're lying, aren't you?


....Aren't you? :(
 
Maybe, maybe not. How can I talk in absolutes when I'm at the mercy of a strange and violent life?

Perhaps if I lobotomized myself, or took copious amounts of sedatives... maybe then the things I communicate could be divorced from cynical self-regard.

But since the age of 11 I've had no reason to invest myself in anything but a comfortable meta-view built on delusion. I would have slit my wrists a decade ago if it were otherwise.
 
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