Why do we prevaricate?

[slobake]

Sometimes I wonder why so many people are liars? Or, more importantly I begrudgingly admit that try as I may I also just might tell a tiny little fib. Why is that?
Well, I can remember when my friend Hughie set the riverbed on fire when he was burning his shopping newspapers instead of delivering them. I wonder how many people missed the sale on Neapolitan Big Dip Imitation Ice Milk that week? Well anyhoo, I couldn’t get my best friend Hughie in trouble could I?
Then there was the time someone turned all the books in my high school library upside down. “I’m in-no-cent I tell you.”
Well what about now? I can’t tell my grandson I really didn’t play a 3 minute bass solo while opening for Black Oak Arkansas at the Upside Down Club. Do you really wan’t to break my grandson’s heart?
Then there was just yesterday, hoo boy was that a whopper.
What about you, why do you stretch the truth. Oh, come on Saint Bassist everyone fibs sometimes even though we don’t want to. I tell ya’ the struggle is real.

 

[Hot Rats]

Well, you know, when someone asks " how ya doing?" I respond will "I'm well, thanks". So, theres that one.

 

[TOOL460002]

I don't lie to make myself look cooler. I lie to make myself look less of a poopie human.

 

[Polfuste]

Because there is not a single thruth: there are so many different truth as humans. So technically, i don't lie cause it's my truth.

 

[Gorn]

Because there is not a single thruth: there are so many different truth as humans. So technically, i don't lie cause it's my truth.

I'm not sure if the purple smiley face indicates sarcasm, but I don't think that's true.

But people lie because sometimes it's easier and/or benefits you at the time.

 

[2saddleslab]

Humans lie because it's the shortest [most convenient] distance between where they're at and where they want to be.

 

[JRA]

I tell ya’ the struggle is real.

in a nutshell, it's about being safe: deceiving for survival. but of course, humans always take things to absurd levels...even when they're not good at it!






IME/IME, lying and truthfulness are full of complexities on many levels of thought/consciousness. might be worth taking a look at mark twain's short story, "was it heaven or hell?" for one writer's interesting take.

mark twain also said about the subject:
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes". which may be another way of stating @2saddleslab's point.

 

[gln1955]

I swear, some people lie for sport, just to see how much they can get away with.

 

[BargeOn]

Don't prevaricate, tergiversate. It's easier to wiggle out of.

 

[Polfuste]

I'm not sure if the purple smiley face indicates sarcasm, but I don't think that's true.

But people lie because sometimes it's easier and/or benefits you at the time.

Half sarcasm only. I've crossed to many people that want to impose their truth as the universal one. Someone we just have to change the angle we look a thing to discover it's not really what we were thinking at first. I've two trees in the garden that you could swear they're straight, absolutely vertical. But if you turn around 90° and look at them from this new area; you'll see their trunk has a 75° angle with the ground.

 

[Geddaric]

I..................must..................resist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dwm74]

I swear, some people lie for sport, just to see how much they can get away with.

And I love it when I catch them lying to someone else, having a different story about the same situation from what they'd told me.

 

[Heiwa]

 

[skycruiser]

Half sarcasm only. I've crossed to many people that want to impose their truth as the universal one. Someone we just have to change the angle we look a thing to discover it's not really what we were thinking at first. I've two trees in the garden that you could swear they're straight, absolutely vertical. But if you turn around 90° and look at them from this new area; you'll see their trunk has a 75° angle with the ground.

Last I checked something that is true is something that aligns with facts or reality. Someone trying to "impose their truth" that doesn't align with facts or reality is just wrong, deceptive and/or stupid.

 

[waveman]

Let's see... self defense and sometimes for the sake of expediency

 

[Ostie]

People lie for a lot of reasons. To further their agenda, to cover up the truth, to impress others, to commit a crime, to save face, or because they are a sociopath or a psychopath.
Why do people steal? Why do people commit murder? Engage in Adultery? Because we are flawed individuals. Free will gives us the opportunity to do wrong as well as right. Sometimes we choose poorly. And sometimes, people are just plain evil.

 

[wncBass]

“It’s in mint condition!”

 

[Spectrum]

I would lie to get some tuna noodle casserole, not to avoid it.

 

[mambo4]

I think everybody learns at a young age to lie to avoid rejection and / or punishment
And it happens so early in life that it becomes an almost automatic response for us
religious, philosophical and social proscriptions against lying evolved as a counter to this impulse
part of being a mature adult is mindfulness of this natural tendency, and conscientiously countering it.

alternatively you can be a billionaire and just pay people to adhere to your BS

Last I checked something that is true is something that aligns with facts or reality. Someone trying to "impose their truth" that doesn't align with facts or reality is just wrong, deceptive and/or stupid.

I also prefer to think of "truth" as an objective , externally verifiable phenomena ( thanks to Carl Sagan ) . This can be hard to square that view with the popular Idea of "many people, many truths" Over time I've come to see things as "One truth, infinite viewpoints."

Since we live in a world of other people, skillful navigation of that world requires appreciating the existence of multiple views, as dismissing the views of others generally yields poor outcomes. It helps to understand the reality that everyone's feelings - the literal neural paths and chemicals signals - are also "true" ( in the sense that yes, those chemical signals really exist, and they are really making them feel that way ) The circuitry of emotion is more deeply rooted evolutionarily than our reasoning faculties, and isa not easily dismissed. A feeling can result form on a lie or propaganda or misunderstanding, but "correcting" that misunderstanding never actually reduces feeling itself.

 

[VJP]

I had to look up definition of 'prevaricate'. No lie!