Truth

[lucille]

I think honesty in words and dealings is important. There are times when one may not want to be completely candid (when your wife/gf asks if she looks fat in a particular outfit) although it is certainly your choice what to reply, and there are other situations where a thoughtful reply is needed as well as a truthful answer. Here is a poll, about telling the truth.

[Magnum88C]

I do not repeat confidential matters, I don't lie, I just don't tell about them right, not lying, I'll just tell you that I'm not going to tell you.

and

other, i.e. As often as I can. No one tells the truth all the time.

BTW, the old "Does this make me look fat" question WILL get an honest answer from me. Don't ask me a question (that you likely already know the answer to), and get mad if I WON'T lie to you about it. See, in my world, if it's ok to lie to you about that to get what I want (or just not get a big hassle), there's no difference between that and lying about any other thing to get what I want or avoid a hassle.
Provoking someone to lie is worse than the one who does the lying.

ANd yes, I've gotten in big trouble for being honest, and it was far more trouble than telling a woman she looked fat.

HINT: fat women shouldn't wear horizontal stripes.

[RIKA]

Like Magnum, I do not repeat things told to me in confidence, just say that I can't talk about it. I try not to lie but am not always successful. Its interesting how many religious people say that the Bible teaches us not to lie. It actually says "Thou shalt not bear false witness"; a far more serious thing.

RIKA

[41mag]

Confidences,to me,also go down a black hole.

I am scrupulusly honest about most things.It's always easier to tell the truth than to make up a lie.Over the years I've watched enough people(mainly employees)try & build a house of lies.It's funny/sad to watch them stumble when caught.Especially when the truth would have been both quick & painless.
The exceptions are the gullible people I either know or work with.Those people I'll tell the most outlandish lies to.About anything.Just for a laugh.As long as it doesn't hurt anyone-& is done in a humourous vein-then I see no problem w/it.

After all,Al Gore invented the internet.Right?:D

[KJUN]

I am not smart enough to keep up with lies, so I always tell the truth as a believe it to be. That doesn't mean i'm always right, don't change my mind or perception about something, forget, misremember, etc. My close friends KNOW not to ask me something if they don't want an honest answer. For example, the Evil One has asked me once if her butt looked big in "these pants.". After I replied that it was NOT the pants, she stopped asking. Since I like her butt, I didn't see any big deal with my answer. As far as lying to not hurt someone's feelings, that is just a joke. If you need lies to feel good, you aren't the type person I care to be around. In other words, what do I care if I hurt someones like that's feelings?

Avoiding issues or not telling all of the truth is not a lie, though. That is as far as i believe an honorable person should go. I can be very good at this, but I'm a horrible liar (and proud of that fact!) from lack of practice.....lol.

For example, you try a bad chocolate cake and the bakers asks if you liked it. Truth: It was very bad. Truth: I've had worse. Truth: I like chocolate cake. Truth: It wasn't the type I really like, but I like brownies more than cake, anyway. Truth: Pick the one nice feature about it like it was light or had good icing or whatever. The first 3 are one of the ones I'd probably use as a reply. The final one is the one I'd use when I felt descretion was in my best interest. Saying I liked it would NEVER be an option for me.

[Thirdeyex]

Always, no matter what:
Ah, ya gotta love children!

Only when it suits me:
This reminds me of the youthful, looking to gain an edge on life by any means. Always failing to discover with an introspective eye that the lies will tarnish the character and disfigure the soul.

I do not repeat confidential matters, I don't lie, I just don't tell about them:
This should be SOP if you have a lick of honor in your being.

Not when the missus asks how she looks in an outfit:
This can be achieved with a little savvy. The “Truth” doesn’t have to be full disclosure.
Does this outfit make me look fat? Answer: No
(Truth: you are fat and the outfit has nothing to do with it)
How do I look in this outfit? Answer: Fine
(Truth: It doesn’t matter if you wear a garbage bag, I don’t care about your clothes, and whatever you’re wearing won’t matter later on anyway. ;)

When it would hurt someone, I am careful but still truthful:
Some people will not tolerate such emotional honesty in communication. Some would rather defend their dishonesty on the grounds that it might hurt others. Therefore, having rationalized their phoniness into nobility, they settle for superficial relationships.
Once again, being truthful, in this scenario would be SOP if you have compassion.

I lie like a dog and just get what I want:
Unfortunately, too many people fall into this category. But society has allowed many lucrative professions for these people of moral lax: Lawyers, attorneys, judges, politicians, bankers, congressmen, senators and presidents. (feel free to add to this list)

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
Joseph Goebbels (Propaganda Minister)

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell

Sometimes it is hard to know what the truth is:
Defining truth is a subject that has its own section in the library. As long as you pursue truth-You will remain on the right road.
"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."
Buddha

Honesty is always best:
Agreed!
“Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.” Thomas Jefferson.

Except for the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus:
This is easy to accomplish, you provide the truth as fast as they wish to receive it. Introduce the ideas as “many people believe” that these are real (truth) and allow your children to develop their own ideas and questions. These are great tools for the development of individual thought and cognitive reasoning.


I would like to share this with you:

When I was 9 years old, my mother caught me in a bald face lie. She approached me and asked, “Why did you lie?” Of course my answer was, “I don’t know?” as I stood looking at my toes. She knelt down and told me to look at her, and begrudgingly my eyes met hers. She then said, “I love you very much and you will need to be punished. Do you understand?” I shook my head up and down numbly in reluctant agreement. Then she said in a quiet voice never taking her eyes from mine, “Now, I’m not going to hit you…” then SLAPPED me across the face. She grabbed my shoulders and within inches of my face said, “That’s what a lie feels like!” She the drew me close, hugged me, and told me never to lie again and that she loved me more than anything in the world but she had to make me understand. I have never forgotten…

[Wylycoyte]

I don't lie to friends. Casual acquaintances might get half truths and misdirection if I feel they're prying where they don't need to go. Some jerk who's demanding my SSN or other information I consider to be none of their damned business either gets told to get lost or a lie, depending on the circumstances.

[Thirdeyex]

The truth always:
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/710/
:roflmao1:

[Wylycoyte]

The truth always:
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/710/
:roflmao1:


:laugh:

::10 characters::

[lucille]

There is one more issue that since the poll, I have been pondering, and it concerns friendships.

I really do genuinely like just about everyone; I accept people and love them for who they are, not what they might be.

We all have frailties, and we all do wrong at times, even knowing what the difference is between right and wrong; even if it is something relatively minor in the total scheme of the universe like driving a mile or two above the speed limit.
(This needs to launch a whole new thread about the difference between malum prohibitum, those things that are adjudged wrong because society has listed them as such, and malum in se, those actions which are inherently evil; I can feel LARGE copies and pastes coming on for this one, lol).

Those people who I permit to get close to me are those who, like me, think that the truth is important. I do not build my friendships or close relationships on falsehoods
.
I do not demand that friends be saints, Lord knows I am not one, but I do demand that they be people of truth and integrity, that is important to me.

How about y'all, do you feel that way?

[Aslan]

well, to tell you the truth...

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than.............................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ... a frontal lobotomy

[T. Daves]

Children don't always need to hear the truth, until their no longer children. I try not too lie because it is to hard to keep the lies straight, honesty is the best policy.

[Flinter]

I remember once when I was in high school we had special speaker come to class to talk about male/female relationships. It was one of those political correct talks about how easily men can sexually harrass women......The only thing that stuck with me from that lecture is that she said "if you tell a woman a lie to get sex, that's rape". Her and I got into a huge debate over that one.

I try to be as honest as I can be and still get along in society. I'm not above telling a lie if it's something that doesn't matter to me but would make some one elses day..........."Honey, how was dinner?"........"Good. Do we have any Pepto?"

As to the quality of people I hang around with it varies.........most are sarcastic half-empty glassers. Some are what I'd call dregs of society. Some are even well tempered church goers. It just depends on what I'm in the mood for today.

[lucille]

I try to be as honest as I can be and still get along in society. I'm not above telling a lie if it's something that doesn't matter to me but would make some one elses day..........."Honey, how was dinner?"........"Good. Do we have any Pepto?"

.

LMAO :roflmao1:

[KJUN]

"if you tell a woman a lie to get sex, that's rape".

Thought #1: If a woman lies to you for sex, is that rape, too? Seems like it should go both ways, but usually doesn't.

Thought #2: A woman that sleeps with you just because of something you said is a slut at best. (Who still doesn't deserve to ever be forced into having sex with someone, e.g., actual rape.)

[John in AR]

I’m a big “black & white” fan, but faced one time with one of ‘those’ situations, I told a guy a blatant lie, and after thinking about it, would do so again.

Young guy I pulled over for DUI, early to mid twenties. Had to take him in, but he was determined he wasn’t going anywhere until he talked to “Janie”. He was very animated and adamant about it, and flat-out told me he wasn’t going. Now, he was about half my size and quite impaired to boot, so I had no doubt I could get him cuffed & in the back seat; but instead, I told him that Janie was on her way to “the office”, and would meet us there. After I told him that a couple times, he finally believed me and went calmly. By the time we got to the jail, he was asleep in the back, and he never even remembered asking to see “Janie”. (I spoke with him briefly on his court date, and he didn’t remember talking about her. He even told me he appreciated me handling it the way I did.) One important factor; I did put in my report what had happened, and that I had lied to him about his girlfriend meeting us at the jail, just to head off any problems from it.

As much as I hate a liar, no matter how much I thought about it afterwards, I was still convinced I did the right thing.

Basically, he put me in the position of having to choose between lying to him, or physically hurting him; those were really the only options his actions allowed. So I chose what I thought to be the “lesser of two evils”, so to speak. Sometimes, no matter how ‘imperfect’ it may seem, we don’t have the options we want and have to choose between bad and really bad.

[lucille]

John: The very fact that you remembered this incident and didn't just blow it off and forget it, and that you gave it serious thought, speaks to your integrity. The black and white choices are easy and do not test what we are really made of; it is the close calls, the difficult choices, that define us.

[Aslan]

Sometimes truth is not an absolute. Sometimes is it totally dependent on perception and bias.

The "does this make me look fat?" question is a good example. Ask two different people to give an honest answer and you could get two completely different, but truthful answers.

Did either of them lie?

epistemology is a branch of philosophy, concerned with "true" knowledge. People can study it a lifetime and still there are questions concerning truth and what it really is.

:devil:

[andy]

John, practiice having somebody stick out their arms toward you, while you "wrap" an arm over and around theirs. As long as you can "wrap up" the arm closest to you (move to that side of him) you are unlikely to be hurt by a weaponless man. smack your foraarm into his throat, mouth, or nose as you smack your hip into his butt. Just for an instant, tho, your ribs and armpit are exposed to his elbow. Nothing's perfect. Bend him back over your hip with your arm. If he tucks down his head, reach over his forehead from behind his head, using your other hand. Hook fingers in eyes, bend his head back, bend his back enough to get his balance broken, arm under his chin. Once you have him bent backwards far enough, you can hold him there easily, (choking.) Y0u can then bend over, use your other arm to grab his lower legs, pick him up, holding him horizontally across your back. From there, you can break him in half, walk over to something solid and bang his head on it, whatever. :-) Very easy to do with drunks,not likely to do any permanent damage.