This shook me to my core. — maytham naei

Imagine that happening to a whole nation... a whole people believing what is comfortable to believe about themselves, and eventually finding reality un-ignorable.

"The liar's punishment is, not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else." - George Bernard Shaw — maytham naei

If that were true (and maybe it is) then it hardly seems a punishment. The fact that I might not believe anyone does not render me immobile. I can still act. I can still live. I can still love. I just have to roll the dice more often. I don't know shit about Covid and I don't trust anyone because journalism, science, the law, etc. have, through lies, all squandered their credibility in my eyes. Yet I mask up, distance, got the vaccine, etc. I make unscientific, subjective calculations of odds versus inconvenience and then roll.

I don't have clean hands. I've lied. And I've done so for varied reasons. But I lie less as I get older because the truth does not offend me any more, I am more secure in my beast. But there is a quote on the subject that I absolutely love, and I remember it when ever I am confronted with some sanctimonious champion of truth who is a closed-minded bigot, patriot, and general asshole:

"In some western states this technique of elaboration to the point where it merges into untruth, is called “stuffing dudes.” Every native born westerner numbers among his inalienable rights the license to use this technique upon occasion, and considers it a gross breach of hospitality if a visitor leaves without having had a few whoppers thrown in with the usual descriptions of the country and it’s customs. Several subjects are rarely discussed under such circumstances without stretching the truth, and in telling the Colter legend, by tradition, it has become almost compulsory to exaggerate. And since no one can study Colter’s accomplishments without being affected to some degree by the contagious desire to improve on truth, I have thought it wise to work off my touch of the disease in Chapter One. Stern searchers after fact are hereby directed to begin reading at Chapter Two.
. . .
The men of the frontier believed that if a yarn told with punctilious respect for the truth fell on unbelieving ears, it was proper to elaborate on the story and make it a good one.
. . .
Therefore, it is obvious that the traditional ridicule of the stories about Colter’s Hell did not originate with his contemporaries, but rather with those who preferred to rely upon the writings of cloistered, learned men and scoffed at the reports of those who told of what they had actually seen."

John Colter, His Years in the Rockies, By Burton Harris, Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1993. Emphasis added

Maybe this just feels right because I was born and raised in the Rocky Mountain West.

Did you know it was a lie when you wrote it? or did your understanding increase over time such that, in hindsight, that which you wrote in good conscience as truth, became a lie with additional knowledge and experience? Little difference in practicality, however, a substantial moral difference between the two.

I used to lie like a sidewalk. Looking back I am not sure why, but there it is. Now I can't be bothered. Either I respect you, in which case you deserve the truth, or I don't give a damn, in which case I cannot be bothered to create a lie, so you get the truth. Also, it is much easier to remember.

I knew it was a lie. As I sold the lie to other, I subconsciously sold the lie it to myself.

I respect you, in which case you deserve the truth, or I don't give a damn, in which case I cannot be bothered to create a lie, so you get the truth. — Book273

I don't know if this is in my head, but I feel like others pickup on this attitude, and thus pickup on your honesty.

You should not lie (psychologically) it messes up your system and in the end you can’t tell if your lying or not. Then where will you go?

I think they do pick up on the "take it or leave it" attitude. Once they realize you are not vested in their belief, they believe you as you having nothing to gain either way.