“The Ways We Lie”
Evaluate the success of Ericsson’s essay, considering especially how effectively her evidence supports her generalizations. Are there important categories she overlooks, exceptions she neglects to account for, gaps in definitions or examples? Offer specific evidence for your own view, whether positive or negative.
“Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs”
Gould proposes several causes and the same effect. Why do you think considering various possible causes for a particular effect is important in scientific inquiry? How does the same thing apply in everyday life? Think of a situation that affects you directly—your breakup with a close friend, a course you are having particular difficulties with, a problem you face at school, something you have recently become interested in (or lost interest in), or the like. Then, write down all the causes you can think of for this situation.
“No Name Woman”
Most of us have heard family stories that left lasting impressions—ghost stories like Kingston’s , biographies of ancestors, explanations for traditions, family superstitions, and so on. Write about a family story you remember vividly from your childhood.
“Once More to the Lake”
White strongly evokes the lake camp as a place that was important to him as a child. What place or places were most important to you as a child? Describe the place now as a teenager. Your description should draw on your childhood memories, making them as vivid as possible for the reader, but you should also consider how your point of view toward the place differs now.
“The Clan of One-Breasted Women”
Evaluate “The Clan of One-Breasted Women” as an argument, focusing on the author’s use of appeals (rational, emotional, and ethical). How well do you think she succeeds?
One of the stories I remember the most boldly from my family is the life story of my biological grandfather. Although I will not go into full detail, he murdered three people before he was fourteen years old and was sent to live in Indiana by the town he had lived in previously. Once he moved, he no longer killed; as an alternative, he partook in any crime imaginable. At the age of 57, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Starting at about age 60, he gradually stopped breaking the law and instead devoted his time to writing. He became an influential poet in Muncie, Indiana and spent the last fifteen or so years of his life lecturing at Ball State University and Indiana State University.
ReplyDeleteHis story is not pleasant at all with the details. However, he showed that you can make any adversity work to your advantage. By writing about his childhood, he eventually managed to work through all of his issues. Though it was not safe to be around him while he was still alive, he had healed; he was still dangerous, but at least he was mentally somewhat stable then. He still effects my life, as with everyone else in my family, even though he is still dead.
After reading through all of the essays, I found “The Ways We Lie” and “Sex, Drugs, Disasters and the Extinction of Dinosaurs” were my favorite stories by far. They both conveyed a very powerful message which I could relate to and understood. The other three stories did not have anything which caught my interest. Honestly, I didn’t even understand “No Name Women.” Choosing between my two favorite was difficult, but I ended up choosing “Sex, Drugs, Disasters and the Extinction of Dinosaurs.”
ReplyDeleteThe three causes for the extinction of dinosaurs included sex, drugs, and disasters. (As stated by the title.) I believe that the necessity for multiple ideas for causes of an event is due to the complex set of ideas that revolve around in the universe. Unless we lived in a situation, we can not be absolutely sure about the cause. We can only make speculations based on educated facts. The need for three causes is just another attribute associated with a true scientific hypothesis. The scientific hypothesis allows for expansion and alterations. Therefore, multiple causes are necessary for scientific inquiry as it allows scientists to observe several different variables at one time. Without considering multiple causes, we limit ourselves to a certain opinion. Part of the scientific method includes testing the different variables. By assessing different causes, scientists can keep certain variables constant and observe the effect of each individual change.
Personally, I have taken an interest in philosophy. I haven’t been able to read many actual books yet, but I have started reading small articles online whenever I have the chance. Philosophy is an extremely complex concept and the infinite number of sects makes it almost impossible to gain a comprehensive knowledge of philosophy. When I tried thinking of reasons for this sudden interest in philosophy, I could think of three or four reasons. First, I think the fact that there is such an expansive amount of information makes it feel like a challenge to me. It’s like a game. Each bit of information is like a point. Then again, since each view may contrast another, it also allows me to make my own interpretation. Second, I’ve always had a somewhat insightful mind when it comes to everything. I try to be the guy who looks at all perspectives of a situation and I think it’s interesting to learn about the opinions of others. I often times talk with other people and bring up certain topics just to see their perspective. I think this insightfulness triggered a need for something more complex to analyze. While many of the people I talk to are quite complex, people like Aristotle, John Locke, Plato and Friedrich Nietzsche have such a different mindset. I don’t always agree with them, but again, I just enjoy seeing different sides of the same situation. Last, I first started talking to Cato last year when I joined NHS and became an officer. Immediately, we began talking about certain topics that I never talked about with other people. For those of you who haven’t had him, he’s a stubborn guy. Arguing with him seems like arguing with a brick wall, but it is still very stimulating. He actually recommended me to my first philosophy book.
All three of these causes may have had an effect on my interest in philosophy. I don’t really think it was one specific event, person, or mindset.
I felt as though Ericsson's essay was effective in that it described the type of lie as well as provided examples for each in which they are used daily. She brought to my attention that things that I don't generally consider "lies" actually are false statements, for instance omission. It's so easy to leave parts of a story out so that your side looks better or no one gets their feelings hurt. Then, when they ask "Why did you lie to me?" you can say I didn't lie, I simply left a part out. There are only two major forms of lying (that I could think of) that she left out of her essay: exaggeration and perjury. Exaggeration, whether we see it to be or not, is in fact a type of lie. It deceives and gives false impressions, and therefore conveys an "untruth". Perjury, on the other hand, is a serious lie that is punishable by law (other serious lies include things such as fraud). As most know, perjury is when someone lies under oath, "a willful act of swearing a false affirmation to tell the truth". I'm aware that under her section entitled "Deflecting" she mentioned someone lying in a court hearing, however he deflected attention away from the accusation which is not the same as perjury. Overall I think her essay was effective in making me realize just how much we lie and we don't even see it as a problem. Also, I've never really thought about just how great the effect lying can be on other people and ourselves. Though her essay was successful in examining the types of lies, I think her essay would have been stronger if she had included the two forms I mentioned above (along with any others that I've missed).
ReplyDeleteAs I was about to post this, I saw Shelby’s post about exaggeration. I agree with her. This was the only main form of lying that I noticed that Ericsson left out. When we exaggerate, we usually embellish a story, telling about things that didn’t happen and trying to make the story more interesting. However, by embellishing the story, we make up things that aren’t true. We lie to others to try to make our stories or even just simple explanations sound better. For example, when you tell a friend about something that happened in your fifth period class when “the whole class burst out laughing” when it was really just the three people sitting around you, you are exaggerating and are lying to that friend. Exaggeration, embellishing the truth, just to make something sound better is lying. Other than this, I think Ericsson did a good job in defining the different ways we lie. There were some cases where I thought she could explain more, or more so go more in depth with examples under different categories, as in groupthink because at first, I was confused on what exactly it was. Overall though, I liked the story. It certainly does make you realize how many times you lie even when you aren’t thinking about it or doing it purposefully. Lying can lead to so many problems that we fail to foresee. And these effects can last a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteResponse to "Sex, Drugs, Disasters and the Extinction of Dinosaurs"
ReplyDeleteTo look at a problem as a scientist, one must examine all possible solutions or explanations. There is always a great temptation to accept the easiest or most popular explanation, but all scientists know that "innocent until proven guilty" is just as important a maxim in the laboratory as in the courtroom. Assumptions can be hazardous anywhere-- it is dangerous for a doctor to assume a patient with stomach cramps just got on the wrong side of a burrito, just as it is dangerous for a worker to assume that he will not be fired just because the recession is supposedly over. The process of scientific inquiry, exploring all possible explanations to a problem, works for everyday problems as well. For example, I am having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what sort of college major(s) I want to pursue. I cannot assume I should be an artist just because I have some talent in that area, nor should I become a historian just because I have a 100 in APUS. I need to examine all possible options. What am I good at? What do I like? What am I willing to spend hours doing every day? Then, armed with hypotheses, I narrow down my list; in this case, I use cross-examination. No, I cannot do math for hours a day. No, just because I am interested in nutrition does not mean that I love the subject. But yes, I love fantasy, am good at creating things and can spend all day just creating worlds and cultures in my mind. Just like in "Sex, Drugs, Disasters and the Extinction of Dinosaurs," I have taken several "hypotheses" and narrowed them down to a few careers that I can explore in great detail.
It's about twenty degrees cooler here than in the city, and before you see the waters of the lake, you have to travel down a narrow, one-lane dirt road that has always made me feel intensely claustrophobic. It's not until you turn right onto the driveway (this time, gravel) that the scenery opens up to reveal the expansive front lawn leading up to the old cottage, Lake Michigan set just behind.
ReplyDeleteWe've been going to my grandparents' cottage in Wisconsin for as long as I can remember. This was always the most exciting part for me of our annual trip up north; getting a chance to play with my cousins on the beach bordering the icy-even-in-July waters, making bonfires in the sand, and avoiding the storage shed at all costs (there were spiders in there! big ones!) Before my grandfather died, he used to take us out in his boat that amounted to barely more than a canoe, but the only recollections I have of those days are from a couple of faded old photographs.
Through the years, the magic of this little house in Wisconsin has faded; no longer do all the cousins gather out on the stone porch in the back, nor do we try to brave the frigid waters as tests of character. Opening the front door to the distinctive smell of the lake mixed with the smell of old wood brings the same emotions it used to, but now these feelings come from memories, not the prospect of new adventures. Unlike White's descriptions in "Once More to the Lake," I'm not transported back in time, not held back by old thoughts. My grandmother plans on selling the place-- for all I know, it's already been sold-- but now the magic can stay where it belongs: memories.
-Anneliese H.
My Grandparents’ house looked quiet and serene, surrounded by its own garden. The front door of the house was connected with the gate of the garden by a short stone path which was smooth to step on. There was a set of concrete steps immediately before the front door. Along both sides of the path barrenly grew some weeds, as if a baldhead were showing off his funny crown. The garden was bordered by a circle of low bamboo hedge, wherein was planted some unknown brushwood shading the path, the steps and the bottom of the house if it was fine. I remember that I always spent the whole afternoon enjoying the coziness and happiness there almost at every sunny weekend. The rusty brass number plate of the house, nailed tightly atop the front door, had lost the function of reminding us of the house number since it had been ruined by the green rust. But the rusty plate and the blurred figures looked quite harmonious with the aged dark wooden floor of the hallway. Stepping on the loose floor boards, I was always inevitably startled by the sudden sounds they made. In their house, hanging on the wall was an impressionist oil painting which was created by Grandpa, facing a much larger one on the opposite wall. I believed that they must be two of the most satisfactory works of my Grandpa. The dining room was on the left hand of the living room. Actually it was just a part of the living room. But for the smoked wall and the oval table in middle, I could hardly view it as a real dining room. What I rejected most was to take a shower, the aged wall and stained bathtub gave me the creeps, although they were not really dirty but was just the result of years. On the left hand of the bath was the wooden stairs to the second floor, each step a bit sunk in through years of stepping.
ReplyDeleteSince my Grandmother died, my Grandfather moved in with me, so I no longer get to visit my grandparents’ house. I’ll occasionally drive through their neighborhood and take a glimpse of their house while passing by. My Grandparents’ house is somewhere nostalgic, valuable, and touching, with the memories of years. It also provides a literary and artistic atmosphere for almost every child and grandchild. Nothing much has changed, but you can tell that the house itself is getting pretty old. My point of view hasn’t really changed either. I miss always going over to my grandparents’ house over the weekends, running through their yard, imagining the floors in their house were volcanic lava, and being chased by the evil wizard, my brother. The shaded garden path, the rusty brass number plate, and the fantastic oil paintings all composed an enthralling scene which is perpetually valued in my deep memory.
-Amanda Cheung
I liked "No Name Woman." I don't understand Chewy's problem with it. Here's my response:
ReplyDeleteThe house I'm living in now has a pool in the backyard. When I moved here, I was only in the 5th grade and my sister in the 2nd. My parents were terrified of my sister and I going to the pool alone in the case that we drown (even though I had the most experience in swimming compared to the rest of the family and I have been dubbed "the lifeguard" of the family). To effectively scare us into not going to the pool without their permission, my parents told us a true story of when my dad was little.
My dad grew up as the oldest of four sons. There were no pools like we have in the little village that he lived in, so their swimming was done in the well. (It was really full with water and there were stairs so they could get in and out). They also couldn't afford any form of a life vest, so they tied coconuts together and used that as a floatation device. One summer, the brothers were all swimming in the well. All of a sudden a snake (I don't know if it was poisonous or not) appeared in the water. They all freaked out, and in the panic, my dad's coconut rope broke. My dad never took the time to really learn how to stay afloat because of his trust in the coconuts. He started slipping under the water. Because my dad was the oldest, his younger brothers had a very hard time pulling him back up. Hy dad almost drowned that day.
Since then, my dad is still very weary of the water. He doesn't even go into the pool without a life vest securely on his body. Once he freaked out when Varun slipped in our pool and pulled on my dad's body to keep himself afloat causing my dad to go under instead. During my trip to India, his brothers showed me the well where this incident happened. The snakes are still in there. Because of this story, my sister and I are very cautious when we are in the water. We are aware what might happen if something goes wrong and because of that, we know how to respond. Every time we are in the pool, we are reminded of my dad's story and what could've happened.
~ Niyathi Prasad
“Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs”
ReplyDeleteIt is important in scientific inquiry to consider all the causes of a particular effect in order to gain as much understanding of the effect as possible. This is especially important in science due to the fact that the correct explanation of a problem may need to be discovered. In addition, science contain many motifs and trends; if we can decipher these common themes, we can connect all the many different fields and concepts in science.
Something I have recently become more interested in is running, which can be explained in several ways. I joined track this spring after running just recreationally for two years. This has prompted me to run everyday and also has given me a desire to improve. And while I feel very overwhelmed at times from AP classes, french horn lessons, SATs, summer program applications, etc, running actually helps me relieve this stress, rather than adding to it. In addition, both my sister and my boyfriend also enjoy running, so I have motivation to keep with it. Running actually has made me into less of a procrastinator; while I used to come home from school and waste hours on the internet, I now go running after school, come home, and get my homework done. While my interest in running has many possible causes, I believe they are all related to positive feedback; I run, good things happen, so I run more.
I was sitting in front of my computer trying to think of a childhood memory while I was also trying to listen to Cold Case my dad was watching, and my times as a middle school delinquent came to mind. In middle school I wasn't a star student when it came to behavior. My best friend had an older brother who was an upperclassman in high school and we so badly wanted to be "cool" like him. He had the most gorgeous girlfriend in the world and was a star on the football team, so naturally we tried to do everything he did. It was during football season and my best friend’s older brother and his friends had gotten themselves in a fight the other weekend with some kids from Greenbrier. We thought this was the coolest thing ever, especially seeing as they had supposedly won. So that Friday night while his older and the team were playing Westside at Westside, we decided to both get into a fight. My best friend decided to go first, so we both walked down to the clear area near the entrance to Westside’s stadium and picked out a couple of kids to fight. He picked out a tall, lanky kid a little older than we were who didn’t looked very tall but looked a little emo. So he walked straight up to the kid who was sitting at a picnic table and told him to get up and fight him. So the emo kid got up and my best friend and him moved to beside the table and just started fighting. They fought for about fifteen seconds, a couple of kids gathering around him. My best friend didn’t necessarily win but didn’t lose either. It was sort of a draw. When the fight was over he came over to me smiling and pulling his shirt back around him.
ReplyDelete“Your turn,” he said to me grinning, and indeed it was my turn. It was my first fight so I wasn’t quite sure what to do, but I was a pretty cocky kid back then and didn’t think much of it. So I picked out a nerdy looking kid who was a little older than I but like my best friend’s opponent also lanky. I walked straight up to him where he was sitting, at a table near where the emo kid was sitting, and told him to get up so we could fight. Well he didn’t take as well to it as the other kid had, and told me that he wasn’t going to do it. So I did the only thing I could think of, I flipped his chair back. Naturally he went sprawling on the grass, and I guess while on the ground he had found some motivation because when he got to his feet it was on. Neither one of us initially threw punches, we both just grabbed each other and started wrestling. We made it to the ground, and for about the first three seconds I came out on top. I threw about three punches before swoosh and all of sudden he was on top of me. I don’t remember any pain but instead just remember seeing him pounding on chest. This lasted for about four seconds, when all of a sudden my best friend pushes the other kid off of me and told us, mainly him, that the fight was over. Well I got up pretty excited because of the adrenaline coursing through me, and the first thing I asked my best friend after he had helped me to my feet was “Did I win?”
Well in true best friend fashion he replied this: “Well, you had him there for a while, but then he cheated, so yea, you definitely won.” Win or lose, which to me didn’t matter, I had gotten in my first fight and came out alive. We both grinned real wide at each other and walked back to the stands, him with his dignity and me with a torn shirt and a grin.
William's decision to go against her beliefs and basically "stick it to the man" is something I find extremely admirable in people when done like this. When one breaks there beliefs to drink like a Mormon might, that is far from admirable. But when one, like the character in the story steps away from her religion to protect her future generations as well as herself, that is admirable. I have based basically everything I stand for on questioning and disagreeing with authority. I'm a wuss though so I rarely act on it. I could not act on it because I'm seventeen and feel unable to create an impact on anything, but that's me being insecure. I feel like when I get a little older though, I can start making statements through film making on my feelings on certain topics. So I haven't done anything really to talk about, but I feel like making controversial films, like many people I admire have done (David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick) I could make my point on the world in an artistic style which may astound some and offend others.
ReplyDeleteI chose to talk about "The Ways We Lie" and it really hit home for me as I am going through a lying issue with one of my friends. One of the things that I did not understand in her essay was that of group think, it may be that I am comparing it to that of the mob mentality, however it is not registering to me as a lie. It is much more like a misconception. I did read Rachel's and Shelby's and I have to concur. Exaggerating is something that happens all the time and it is usually done as stated before to make yourself look better or achieve a point. To lie for the sake of lying is merely a way of telling people that you have nothing really going on in your life. Lying is a shield to protect yourself, very few people lie intentionally to protect another. They lie to another to protect themselves from their wrath. I think that another form of lying talking behind another person's back. I know very few people who will talk trash about a person and then confess to it when confronted it. This is another form of lying that should be included. Overall, I liked the essay and agreed with a majority of it. I feel like her example of group think could have been better and then I might agree with it. I also believe that a person does not have the right to decide what another should be able to access. To clarify: If you were to be asked "Did (insert name) talk about me today? She says she didn't but I think she did." That is not a right you have to withhold knowledge. Simple things, "white lies" add up and they hurt people when they come out. I am of the belief that if you say it, you must mean it; if directly asked you cannot decide what another can know if it is about them; and I also believe that unless it is a lie to protect another and not yourself, and to truly protect another person then that is the only time it may be deemed ok.
ReplyDeleteLike Rachel said, Ericsson did an impressive job covering different ways people lie. Reviewing the actual essay, I found it difficult to find many “important categories” that she missed. However, I did notice that Ericsson did not really mention exaggerating the truth as a form of lying. I am not just saying this because Rachel and Shelby said it as well, but because I do it too often to not realize that it was not mentioned in the essay. As a teenager, I argue with my parents a lot and I cannot say that I was 100% truthful in my arguments with them. In that kind of situation, when tempers rise and people say things that they normally would not, people seem to automatically exaggerate their claims to make it seems their evidence back up their claims more than it actually should. Even if the claims are essentially true, the exaggerations make them false because the actual evidence does not match the claim.
ReplyDeleteDespite small confusions between the different categories (when I read about Out-and-Out lies, they sounded like White lies to me at first) I found that Ericsson’s essay was very effective. She divides lying into pieces that most people can relate to and she shows that just because people do not straight out tell a lie to another’s face, does not mean that they did not lie at all.
-Dorothy Li
Ericsson's essay was successful because her evidence was very effective. With each type of lie that she presented, a clear definition and example would follow along with a reason why we might overlook such as a lie. Even though she does use many generalizations throughout the essay, each generlization is clear enough to where the point that is intended is made. She targets both sides by including positive and negative effects of lying which ultimataly makes her point that we can not entirely eliminate lying from our lives.
ReplyDeleteAn important category that I think she overlooked is that lying can include actions also, such as doing something to someone and then thinking "what he doesnt know wont hurt him." Another category could be "lying" for someone else by not saying anything, such as watching someone steal someone else's fry at lunch and not saying anything when they ask who did it. Now you can be considered an accomplice, and today accomplices in crimes can also get in trouble with the law.
Haha, I am also with you Niyathi. (:
ReplyDeleteCompared to other families, my family does not have exciting traditional ghost stories like Victoria's family or bizarre family superstitions. However, I vividly recall many Korean folktales that my mother used to read to me as a young child. Believe it or not, I wasn't the "nice and polite" baby that everyone thought I was. Instead, I was a stubborn and boisterous kid with uncontrollable temper tantrums and an ineffable love towards stories. Similarly to American fables, Korean folktales always point some aspect of the human behavior and usually have a moral attached to it. Due to my headstrong personality and love for stories, my mother would always tell me these stories in order to educate me.
One story that my mother used to frequently read for me during my childhood was called the "The Queen Swallow's Gift." It is about two brothers named Nung-bu and Nol- bu who lived together with their elderly father, a wealthy landowner. After their dad's death, Nol-bu and his wife treated his younger brother Hung- bu like servants; they had to do all the cooking, cleaning and washing, and running the errands. As time progressed, Nol- bu and his wife, who were greedy for money, kicked out his brother's family into the barren streets. When things got worse for Hung's family, his brother simply cut his relations with Hung and did not help him one bit. One day, as Hung was returning home from work, he found a baby swallow with a broken leg. Due to his kind heart, he quickly bounded the leg with a string and put the bird back into its nest. The children lovingly cared for it, feeding it worms and insects, and soon it was flying around the yard with the other birds. One warm day, a lone swallow dropped a seed at Hung's feet and flew away. He later planted the seed and was awarded with two enormous gourds. One gourd was stacked with a copious amount of gold and silver coins and the other was filled with sacks of rice for the family. Nol, expectedly, found out about his brother's instant wealth. He, too, tried Hung's way: he found a swallow, broke his leg, and mended it. However, days went by and he finally received a seed from a swallow. He quickly planted the seed and to his surprise, the seed ripened into three gigantic gourds. However, unlike Hung, his gourds had a thousand beggars, putrid night soil, and an army of ogres carrying large spiny mallets. Hung quickly discovered this tragedy and came to his selfish brother Nol's rescue. From that day on, Hung- bu and Nol- bu became tthe best of brothers and their families lived happily together.
You guys are probably thinking that was the most ridiculous story ever, but the story has taught me vital life lessons. Like Hung- bu, I have learned that it is important to be humble towards everyone, regardless of one's situation; generosity is what brings everyone into harmony.
"The Ways We Lie" really made me think about all the ways we lie and how we don't even notice how much we do it. We lie on a daily basis, but we don't necessarily call it lying because it isn't the generic lie. I remember last year for lent for my cousin attempted to give up lying. Needless to say it lasted only a few days,during which she still lied without knowing it. Her decision made me want to try as well, but for only a day. It was much harder than I thought. Thinking back on it, it amazes me how many lies we go through daily. Ericsson really hits home with her essay and the variety of ways to lie. I never would have thought of some of them, but they all make sense. I really enjoyed the section on omission because (and I will admit) I do it alot. I try my best not to lie, but when it comes to sparing feelings or avoiding a lecture from my parents, I'll leave out a small detail. We all do it. I agree with Shelby on exaggeration being a type of lie. Most of the time, I'm sure we don't intentionally mean for it to be a lie, but by exagerrating we are embellishing the truth. Ericsson does a great job explaining that lies come in all forms.
ReplyDeleteVivid childhood memories that I recall were superstitious stories told to me by my grandmother. My grandmother aka Granny, would always tell me these stories about her mom, my great grandmother. She told me that my great grandmother was born with a layer of skin covering her face that made her somewhat of a psychic. My granny would always tell me stories of when my great grandma's psychic powers would come out. One of the stories that I remember best, because it was told to me so often, was a story dealing with a dance that my great grandma told my Granny not to go to. My Granny constantly told me this story anytime I went to any kind of social event, to either tell me to be safe or scare me out of going. My granny said her mother had a bad feeling about a dance my granny wanted to go to. She said she could see something happening and she didn't want my Granny to be there when the event took place. The next day my Granny had found out that there was a shooting at the dance and a young boy was killed. Since then, my granny constantly listened to anything my great grandmother would say about a person or event. There were many other stories and evidences from my great grandma's "sixth sense," but this is the one I remember the most.
ReplyDeleteEricsson's essay, "The Ways We Lie," was well-written and she backed up almost all her types of lies with sufficient evidence, insight, and explanation. The only one I had a problem with was the Out-and-Out Lies, which I don't think she fully explained because i still don't understand what type of lie that is. Like Shelby said, i believe exaggerations are also lies. I liked the story because it is so true and shows almost all the types of lies that we are able to come up with. She blatantly states that we lie on a daily basis, and that I have no doubt of. People have grown so accustomed to lying we no longer think anything of it; it has become as natural to us as putting one foot in front of the other. I also liked how she began with her own lies; she connects with the reader by doing this because they now feel that she is not criticizing them, but empathizing with them. I agree with her that lying is lying, no matter how small or how big. I particularly liked her description and assertion of dismissal about how the mental patients were originally well, but through constant dismissal, "the only reality [they] could trust was catatonia" and that "madness is actually a sane reaction to an insane world." Her use of the mental patients and schizophrenics as examples of the downsides of lying by dismissal was strong evidence to back up her explanation. Her use of various types of examples following her explanations really helped strengthen her story and make it very effective in its purpose.
ReplyDelete-Rebecca Pakradooni
Ericsson in "The Ways We Lie" begins to make her point with an example of her on in average day in which she tells four lies "harmlessly." She then asks herself the questioon of if lying is actually okay in certain situations or is it still sinful and deceitful. Her analysis of the art and definition of lying is shocking, because out of the ten types of lies she describes only one is just a plain intentional lie. Her examples give foundation and power to her assertions about lying; for example, when she discussed omission she included a story about broken glasses to portray her point about how omitting a detail is still lying. Also her point about the infamous and popular "white lie" was backed up with reasoning that deciding whether to tell the truth to someone based on what is best for them is "subtly arrogant." She seemed to cover most of the types of lies I could come up with; however, Shelby and others pointed out that exaggeration is another form of lying. Hollywood is a great example of this type, because their so called "true stories" are proven to exaggerated and not so true. They add dramatization for attention of the audience. In my opinion twisting the truth is just as bad as lying, because the intent of the person is still bad. Ericsson did a wonderful job is displaying the many angles of lying, and as a result it was an exciting read.
ReplyDeleteIt was the year 1957. My grandparents were still just a 19-years-young boyfriend and girlfriend in love, absolutely sure of themselves. My grandmother, from whom I inherited both name and personality, did not want a huge and extravagant wedding nearly as much as her mother did, and neither did my grandfather, as he was a sedulous student at Georgia Tech. They decided to elope on a cold January Saturday in South Carolina, away from their families, and made their marriage official in the Edgefield courthouse. Rather than a lavish white dress, she wore a navy blue suit, which certainly suited her practical and slightly rebellious personality. When her father found out about their marriage once the newlyweds were back in town, he laughed good-naturedly and called his friend, the priest, to meet them at the church for a "proper" ceremony. The couple complied and rushed to the church in the same clothes they had arrived home with. In my grandmother's true fashion, she forwent shoes, and we're still not sure if it was intentional or not (it was most likely the latter, knowing her). After the quick little "ceremony," a picture was taken on my now twice-married grandparents on the front steps. Upon looking at the picture months later, my grandmother was shocked to see (or rather remember) that she was barefoot, and used a sharpie to draw these oversized black "shoes" on the picture so that she wouldn't be embarrassed when he grandchildren looked at the photo. This photo is in a frame on the bookshelf in our living room and never ceases to bring a smile or a good, familiar laugh.
ReplyDeleteLillie
So I posted yesterday, but apparently it did not register with the website...
ReplyDeleteI've never had a problem before so I have no idea what happened this time...
I was originally going to write about “Sex, Drugs, Disaster, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs” but I decided against it. Mainly because science and technology are a key part of whom I am, so I wanted to write about something different. So I am gong to focus on “The Ways We Lie.”
When it comes down to it, Ericsson’s essay is the reality of our world today. I fee like she was spot on with the explanation of why people lie today. She does not really leave many gaps in her story, but I would like to point out a few things. Ericsson has introduced me to a new way of thinking. Being able to say that ignorance and exaggeration are lies are pretty bold statements. However, after reading the two sections, I realized that she does have a point. If you ignore something and tell others what you believe, then you are depriving them of the truth and hence lying to them and to yourself. Exaggerations are more fitting under the definition of lies as it is the opposite of omission. Omission involves taking out some key points here and there to make a person think a different way. Exaggeration accomplishes the same end result except it involves adding in some extra fats that sway a person’s thinking. I never thought about that way before…
Another thing I wanted to point out is her façade section. She talks about how her friend’s façade eventually led to a bad situation for her. What she failed to target was the fact that facades affect the person who is putting that façade on. She says herself that she thinks putting on a suit is like putting on another face for her. In essence, you are lying to yourself, which is worse than any other lie. Not only do you deprive yourself of the truth and close many “doors” and your mind but also when you realize your façade and leave it behind, it only hurts you more. I put on a façade everytime I am with my dad because he cannot tolerate my “casual” actions and words. I feel like I treat him like he is my boss at a workplace half the time. It is annoying and absolutely constricting to be someone you are not to someone who should be able to accept you for who you are.
Without a doubt every single one of us has lied I our lifetime. Whether it was to protect someone or save someone from insult, or even save yourself from punishment. It really comes down to your judgment of when you think you should lie. Lying is sort of an art, to successfully be able to lie and have a minimal effect on others, and still achieve your goal, is not an easy thing do. It I something I have gotten pretty good at with my parents because they are some of the most unjust people I know. A completely harmless little lie here, a little lie there, and my life becomes infinitely easier.
~Pratik Gangwani
I feel as though I somehow misinterpreted the question I answered about "No Name Woman"--the stories told to the author were jarring and had such a haunting, lasting impression. However, my mother never used a story like this to scare me into not doing something. On the contrary, she tried to raise us in a loving, open-minded environment and told us only funny anecdotes about family members, both living and dead. Though she also raised us to know about consequences for our actions, she never wanted to scare us into not doing something. Her philosophy is that if she makes something so "taboo" such as drinking underage seem normal, we won't go out and drink at a party. She takes the "fun" of experiencing things like this outside of the home by bringing it inside. For instance, if my brother wanted a beer, she would occasionally let him have one as long as he wasn't leaving the house and didn't have more than one or two. If someone wants a sip of her drink, she lets them have it. I feel as though this is an incredibly effective way to parent, because it makes a teenager less curious about what kind of "immoral"--not to mention illegal--things are out there. To this day, none of us have ever stepped out of line or gotten in trouble, have never been at a party and had something to drink or have been busted by the cops, and I have a feeling that when my brother starts college at Georgia Tech next year, he's not going to be the stereotypical party boy as he's been raised talking openly about the responsibilities that come with being a college student.
ReplyDelete