The Bitter Truth A Brief Look at Lying - 688 Words

The Bitter Truth From the moment we learned to speak, our parents taught us that we should be honest. Most people don’t seem to follow this teaching since everyone lies in one way or another. Bella DePaulo, a professor who’s studied the phenomenon of lying, conducted an experiment on one hundred forty-four people. They were instructed to record every lie they told in a journal for a week. Only seven people claimed to have told no lie (â€Å"It’s the Truth†). Honesty is a moral duty, which can only be disobeyed in certain situations. What exactly is a â€Å"lie†? A lie is â€Å"an intentional untruthful declaration to another person† as defined by the eighteenth century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (qtd. in Bok). This untruthful declaration harms everyone involved in the situation, including the liar. Brad Blanton, a psychotherapist and an author of a book on lying, said in an interview that lying keeps you locked in the jail of your own mind, while delivering the truth is easier, takes less time, and is less stressful (Ballinger). White lies are small lies intended to spare the feelings of the subject. These are justified in some cases. For example, telling your sister that her newborn baby is really cute when the baby actually isnt very cute at all (yourdictionary.com). If you told her the truth, her feelings would have been hurt and your relationship would have been history. Then there are the other kinds of white lies, the unnecessary ones. For example, telling your motherShow MoreRelatedHamlet as a Revenge Tragedy Essay examples1285 Words   |  6 PagesHamlet as a Revenge Tragedy Revenge tragedy was a brief sub genre of tragedy at the end of the sixteenth century, despite some clashes with the teachings of the church. In a revenge tragedy a crime, normally murder, has gone unpunished, because the criminal has too much power and cannot be reached by the law. This fact is revealed by a ghost to someone closely connected with the victim, laying on him the responsibility to revenge the crime. The revenger is usually anRead MoreAesthetic Analysis1788 Words   |  8 Pagesneither. It should be an art space which is distinct from the real world, a refuge, a sanctuary, it creates space where objects can exist and the subjects of paintings can live. When you look at all of these different definitions of art it seems to be hard to choose only one to define art, because you can find truth in all the definitions. Art simply stated is a piece, a picture or a scene that can move you to emotion, can teach you what it is saying and what it is all about and it is something thatRead MoreShort Story2283 Words   |  10 Pagesapply for internship in germany, and I was accepted. So he went to pursue his dream, he was an alpinist in his heart.† She takes another pull of smoke, the brief moment is enough for her eyes to wander back to the stone. â€Å"He died alone, In the cold.† I know there’s more to it, but the rest is not meant for me, it’s hers to know. I take a look at my hand, the cigarette rests between my fingers, a steady stream of smoke rising from its edge. Is this all we are? Fuel to be burned away with time, onlyRead MoreFilm Analysis: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind1968 Words   |  8 Pagesregret his agreement to the procedure and desperately tries to cling onto the happiest moments of his life. The scene directly before the sequence I have chosen is a memory of the first and only time that Joel was so happy he could â€Å"die right now†; lying on the frozen Charles with Clementine. The mise-en-scà ©ne of this sequence is expansive, firstly illustrating the trivial way people regard memory loss, and then contrasts this to the importance of retaining one’s memories; the good and the bad. JoelRead MorePoetic Devices and Poems3332 Words   |  14 Pagesexpression or a quality in the thing perceived. In both cases, irony involves the perception of discrepancy, usually between apparent and real significance. It is an indirect way of communicating an attitude. Irony can vary in tone, from humorous to bitter. Example- Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: â€Å"Water, water, every where, and all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.† Diction: choice of words. A writing style may vary according to theRead MoreThe Woman - Original Writing11096 Words   |  45 Pagesover him. But her smile faded as she saw his azure eyes staring at the ceiling blankly, his face grim and expressionless. When can I see you again? she heaved velvety, placing a teasing hand against his chest. The man looked at her with a brief cool look, his face still grim and expressionless. He remained silent, his eyes staring dully at the ceiling. You know you re gorgeous, she whispered huskily, planting a small kiss to his shoulder and ignoring his silence. Absolutely gorgeous. TheRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel Mrs. Dalloway2371 Words   |  10 PagesThis lack of knowledge is the sacrifice she made by agreeing to conform to social norms of gender and despite recognizing the fact that she has conformed, there remains a sense of regret, as noted by her bitter response towards a memory of Peter calling her the perfect hostess. It is an unpleasant truth that she is still not comfortable with, otherwise she would not harbour such feelings towards Peter’s comment. Yet this is the life Clarissa has chosen for herself, one of high class and financial safetyRead MoreThe Adventures Of Tom Sawyer2307 Words   |  10 Pagessociality had gradually changed his mannerisms, and how while he still preferred the â€Å"old ways† (that he still occasionally partook in) he genuinely did not mind the new ones. A small, yet seemingly important and foreshadowing to Huckleberry follows this brief â€Å"confidence† of Huckleberry’s into the reader: aft er Huckleberry spills salt (an omen of bad luck), the Widow Douglas prevents him from engaging in the warding ritual to reverse said luck. Huckleberry is nervous and wary of the consequences from thisRead MoreMacbeth as a Play About the Conflict Between Good and Evil Essay2248 Words   |  9 Pagestwo seemingly contradictory impressions of Macbeth. The first is created by the witches in the initial scene; the fact that they speak of him, mars our previously untainted opinion of him. His character is blemished simply through his brief association with the witches - There to meet with Macbeth. Indeed, any audience of Shakespeares time would have strongly felt that Macbeth was at least partly evil if witches knew of him. Contrastingly, the first report of MacbethRead More The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay4991 Words   |  20 PagesSalem, vengeance is walking Salem. Discuss the real evil in Salem, who contributed to it and their motives who do you blame the most? Before I begin to tell you my opinion on who was to blame, and my reasoning for saying so, I will give you a brief insight into the real point of Arthur Millers play, The Crucible. Arthur Miller first produced his play in 1953, in the middle of the McCarthy political witch-hunt, although the story had applied for playwright for many years prior to this.