Liar, Liar, Your Pants Are On Fire
source
“Liar, Liar, Your Pants Are On Fire” “You Are Fibbing” “You Are A #@^$ Liar” When did you last hear these words? Were you in Kindergarten or grade one? Or maybe it was just yesterday.
How do we as the adults in the world bring our children up to use and respect honesty when we are constantly bombarded with lies? It is time that we all ask ourselves if this is the society we want.
Is It Truth Or Opinion?
We all have different opinions about almost everything. However when is our opinion an outright lie.
If I say “I think it will rain tonight” that is my opinion. It maybe based on a weather report or it may be based on an ache in my knee. Either way it is just my opinion.
If I say “It's now raining” and the rain is falling from the sky that is a truth. If the rain is not falling then it is a lie.
source
Can A Lie Be Believed?
There is a saying in some advertising circles that you must make a statement at least nine times before it is believed and it hits its target. Can the same thing be said about a lie? If you put out a lie over and over again will it become a fact? Maybe. If the lie goes unchecked it may well be accepted as truth.
We are watching influential adults using lies to create their own reality. The sad result is that they find that lying produces more good outcomes than the truth does.
When you're a liar, a person of low moral fortitude, really any explanation you need to be true can be true. Especially if you're smart enough. You can figure out a way to justify anything. Samuel Witwer
Little White Lies Verses Outright Falsehoods
The line between little white lies and outright falsehoods is quite fine. Twentieth Fox Century Fox Home Entertainment did a study and found that ordinary people tell a lie approximately three time a day. Most of these lies are considered to be white lies. They are told to either make the teller or the receiver of the lie feel better. They are most often told to those closest to you. They are things like “I am on my way home” when in fact you are still at your desk or “I love your new hair style” when in fact you preferred her hair long.
Outright falsehoods have the most power when they are believed. They are given with the knowledge that they have no bases of fact. They are often done to make the teller seem special or to try to convince people that the teller’s opinion is the only one.
Fact Checking
In today’s world we are bombarded with sources of information. We have newspapers, magazines, radios, televisions, computers, tablets, and smart phones. When “breaking news” flashes before your eyes is it your natural instinct to immediately research the topic to find out if you are receiving the truth. Probably not. Most of us lead busy lives and have little time to double check the all news we are fed. As a result we tend to seek a trusted source of news.
These days the news we receive has been spun with the slant of the respective news outlets that produce it. We are then polarized to opinions.
Source
Where Do We Go From Here?
Are there solutions for our current state of affairs? Is it enough for each of us to work with our families and especially our children to be honest? In this world of mass information can honesty be the winner?
For those of us who want to have a fairer, balanced world we must be prepared to call out those who use lies to enhance themselves. We can’t just dismiss the post-truth as normal. If we don’t fight this we will all be morally poorer.
“
The liar's punishment is, not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.
George Bernard Shaw