I wish I wrote the book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by comedian, political commentator and now Democratic United States Senator from Minnesota, Al Franken. He surgically dismantles Fox News for its absurdly biased reporting. But even though I didn't write this book here is what is nonetheless true: it's not just Fox News…it's you and it's me who also lie.
Lying is a horrible word for people.
The word is like acid. We prefer other ways of representing "I lied to you". We say, "I beat around the bush", or "maybe, let me think about it", or “ya gotta pick your battles” or “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” or we say nothing at all. And for some people lying looks like actually saying, "Yes" when, really what you think is “no way in hell”. But of course none of this is actually lying. It's simply being polite or being nice or being trapped. “What else could I say?!”
Nice try - you lied. And you have great ways of rationalizing it. You also have no idea how bad you look doing it. You have no clue how much of your own credibility you erode each time. You think that every time you pull one of these run-of-the-mill everyday human stunts that it works. Consider that you are in fact the last person to know when it doesn’t work. It’s a blindspot for you and it is taking you out.
It’s also pretty absurd too, don’t you think?! Grown people lying to each other all the time, playing games, trying not to get caught while looking good for each other.
The irony is that you’re trying to look good for people who are trying to look good for you!!
By contrast compare yourself to my little guy, Arun. He is my precious 6 year old boy. Here are some difference between you lying liars and my little Arun. First, he’s really not trying to look good for anyone – he has jam on his face most days; to my face, he tells me I smell – like a fact not an accusation; and without hesitation will scowl, cry, or get mad when he doesn’t like something. His Pretend-O-Meter is pretty much at zero 24/7.
Are you like this? If you say yes, guess what you just did - again?
