Has Lying become the way of the world?

The media has most people thinking that they are missing out. We are lead to believe that other peoples lives are so much more fulfilling and enjoyable than our own. This has spurred on others to attempt to portray themselves as also living a life that is better than those around them... we call these people "toppers" and we have loads of them were I work.

We have one guy who is the absolute master. He takes the anecdotes and amusing stories of other members of staff and makes a "super mish mash anecdote".. He is so egotistical and vain, believing that his intellect is so far superior to those around him, we will never catch on... but in truth, his lies make him look pathetic, especially as he is in his 50's.

.. the trouble is, he is not alone... there are several guys like him. The majority know who these people are, and as there lies are pretty harmless, we encourage them to exaggerate even further.. to see just how far they will go.. some are pretty spectacular..

One guy said that he met his nephew one weekend as he was driving down the road. he couldn't beileve his eyes when he saw that he was driving the James Bond Aston Martin. His nephew offerred him a lift to the local town center.

So he sat there playing with the switches and the dials, as he bent forward reaching to press the "red button" he asked.. what does this button do.. His nephew screamed, "Dont touch that button".. but it was all to late... it was the ejector seat trigger and he was fired 50 meteres in the sky...

Most people where laughing, one guy was furious as he took it as if he was insulting his intelligence... ok he said.. where did you land...

The story teller replied... on a bouncy castle over the road...

No one will ever "top" that... :D
 
I know some supposedly very religeous and 'right-doing' people who think nothing whatsoever about lying to the council about having arthiritis just so they can get extra money from them.

It's like they don't make the connection between what they are doing and stealing. Very bizarre.
 
-|ScottFree|- said:
We have one guy who is the absolute master. He takes the anecdotes and amusing stories of other members of staff and makes a "super mish mash anecdote".. He is so egotistical and vain, believing that his intellect is so far superior to those around him, we will never catch on... but in truth, his lies make him look pathetic, especially as he is in his 50's.
Click to expand...

Actually I'm much younger than that.
 
Everybody lies.

everybody-lies-73251.jpg
 
I think even if the world has become or always has been this way people still EXPECT the truth. Liars no doubt hate being lied to, telling a lie will always gain an unfair advantage so it's all down to greed like another poster said.

Whether it's companies that false advertise or the individual on the street, maybe lying comes down to a mechanism of evolution, like natural selection favours lying over the truth - a company can get more sales by bending the truth - so that trait leads to even more success.
I don't really believe this because the truth will somehow overcome the lies, maybe i'm being naive saying this.


People who are liars tend to get found out and people won't trust them as a result. Most people realise that everyone has to lie occasionally but i don't believe the world is as bad as some people say it is on this thread.

Plenty of people are honest, i am one of them (most of the time), trustworthy people tend to attract more trust, business relations are still based on trust etc.

Am i just being totally naive here? Interesting subject btw.


On a personal note, my boss respects me as he knows i am honest, admit when i make mistakes and tell him things that are going on that may be controversial. Having said that sometimes you've got to omit the truth to protect others, the truth can do more harm than lies in the right circumstances.
 
kwerk said:
It's said because honesty is worth more than any sum of money. I have more respect for an honest wino tramp than a millionaire liar. Money doesn't impress me or gain respect, honor does.

I don't really know why someone would chose to be a dishonest bad person just so they can get enough money to buy expensive status symbols to impress people?? I guess they only care about impressing other shallow dishonest people.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with every word! I like being around people with this outlook on life!;)
 
Stems from parenting if you ask me. Cinderella, Santa, tooth fairy etc etc. As soon as the kid finds out their own parents have been lying to them its then deemed 'acceptable' to lie.
 
norris1337 said:
Stems from parenting if you ask me. Cinderella, Santa, tooth fairy etc etc. As soon as the kid finds out their own parents have been lying to them its then deemed 'acceptable' to lie.
Click to expand...

Always brings Pratchett to mind - he came up with such a fantastic spin on this concept in The Hogfather. Taken from the film, easiest quote I could find:

Death: Humans need fantasy to *be* human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.
Susan: With tooth fairies? Hogfathers?
Death: Yes. As practice, you have to start out learning to believe the little lies.
Susan: So we can believe the big ones?
Death: Yes. Justice, mercy, duty. That sort of thing.
Susan: They're not the same at all.
Death: You think so? Then take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder, and sieve it through the finest sieve, and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy. And yet, you try to act as if there is some ideal order in the world. As if there is some, some rightness in the universe, by which it may be judged.
Susan: But people have got to believe that, or what's the point?
Death: You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?
Click to expand...

The book says it better.
 
I have returned this thread to it's common state as I feel I needed to write something. It's really common now to lie to everyone because lying gets you normally what you want. Happiness feelings come from lying even though you know it's a lie.

You can't tell a lie from the truth unless you have the facts. The problem is lies is wrecking relationships with people and everyone seems to be doing whatever they want to do to get on with their life.

I don't like lies and I try not to lie where possible but sometimes I have to as part of life.

@LEE929394, perfect explanation. Could not have said it better.
 
Last edited:
I vowed yesterday to stop telling lies to my girlfriend. It's unhealthy and often causes more harm than good.

I lied because I knew she wouldn't like it if I had spoken to an ex, so I lied so that she wouldn't worry. But she found out and it caused more harm than if I just told her to begin with.

Its not cool.
 
J-FRO said:
I vowed yesterday to stop telling lies to my girlfriend. It's unhealthy and often causes more harm than good.

I lied because I knew she wouldn't like it if I had spoken to an ex, so I lied so that she wouldn't worry. But she found out and it caused more harm than if I just told her to begin with.

Its not cool.
Click to expand...

That's the thing. You lied to her in the first place and then said you wouldn't lie so then how can she tell if you were to lie again.

I guess next time it's over? Unless she was a fool if you lied again to take you back.
 
iDroid84 said:
I guess next time it's over?.
Click to expand...

Spot on.

Obviously I didn't want to lie to her, but the conversation with said ex was completely innocent but I thought just her knowing I had spoken to her would cause all sorts of agro so I lied, and then she found out and it was worse because I had lied.

So yeah, not cool and not worth it. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom