Little White Lies
We all lie.
White lies we call them, of course, because they are our little lies.
And as long as we're not having an affair or covering up for murder (those would be the black lies I suppose) our conscience is clear.
We seem to go really easy on ourselves in a lot of situations.
We picture a negative extreme and trust that we look good in comparison.
Take these for example:
"We can be friends"
Negative extreme: Disconnecting your ex-partner's car brakes.
I say: Yeah, right. Unless one of you moves away or gets married, you're still in a relationship of some kind, and it's not friendship.
"I quit smoking"
Negative extreme: Chain-smoking freaks.
I say: You'll always be a smoker. It's just been a long time since you're last cigarette.
"I wouldn't hurt a fly"
Negative extreme: Psycopaths who tweeze off their wings.
I say: Really? Name one time you didn't come at the fly with arms flailing, spray bottle in hand.
White lies we call them, of course, because they are our little lies.
And as long as we're not having an affair or covering up for murder (those would be the black lies I suppose) our conscience is clear.
We seem to go really easy on ourselves in a lot of situations.
We picture a negative extreme and trust that we look good in comparison.
Take these for example:
"We can be friends"
Negative extreme: Disconnecting your ex-partner's car brakes.
I say: Yeah, right. Unless one of you moves away or gets married, you're still in a relationship of some kind, and it's not friendship.
"I quit smoking"
Negative extreme: Chain-smoking freaks.
I say: You'll always be a smoker. It's just been a long time since you're last cigarette.
"I wouldn't hurt a fly"
Negative extreme: Psycopaths who tweeze off their wings.
I say: Really? Name one time you didn't come at the fly with arms flailing, spray bottle in hand.
posted by Ramzi at Sunday, July 17, 2005
9 Comments:
well ramzi, the "you know..." strategy failed. As much as I hate lying and being at the receiving end of lies, I would much rather get an "I'm doing fine, thanks" than "My hemorrhoids are killing me", A "how are you today?" than "Oh it's you again, dipshit", and a "sit down have a coffee" rather than "Why don't you waste someone else's time, thank you very much". Hypocrisy? maybe.. Society, for sure.
I agree with TC... it's all part of living in society.
White lies, just another way of saying: I'm lying to you, but it's for you own good.
White lies, even in the way we say: ana mniha, w inta kifak?
White lies, even in the tone of the comforting voice, saying: it's all going to be alright in the end.
We know it's not the truth, but it's just a way to keep on going.
I agree with all of your comments.
It's certainly the grease to life and I wouldn't want it any other way.
The point I was pushing for (and I guess I didn't make it clear enough) is that we tell these little white lies to ourselves too. We think of a negative extreme and convince(lie to) ourselves.
Hmmm.. how interesting. I believe we just proved your point. We seem to have lied to ourselves about us lying to ourselves, by missing the point of your post, which, by the way, WAS clear enough. I am both astounded and ashamed of myself..
Easy Thermo... :-) Actually, I think your post was clear, Ramzi. That was, partly, what I was referring to in my comment: The fact that we say we're alright when we're not, the fact that we accept being lied to, knowing that "it's not the truth", is just another way of lying to ourselves.
I told a lie yesterday.. I said I was okay when I wasn't.
I was trying to convince myself too... It got people off my case, had time to think, and that all helped me actually feel okay and people stopped worrying... thus confirming how White Lies can help us all. :)
Oh come on Slink, I'm sure you've told worse lies than that! :P
Glad you're feeling better
This was great to read thanks
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