International Law

Can You Detect Lies?

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Seth Godin has an interesting claim about lies:

"Humans are lie detectors.

We hear stories. We enjoy them. We try them on for size. We're looking for falsehoods and we sniff them out.

We value the truth and we enjoy it. And we're always wary about the occasional lie.

That's why political season is just so w e i r d.

The spinners lie constantly.

They lie with a straight face. They lie sentence after sentence, relentlessly."

We are not lie detectors, because as Dennis Marlock writes:

"In our hearts we know that we tell lies.  We forgive ourselves for this weakness because we allow ourselves to believe it is required to establish and maintain amicable social relationships.  And because we forgive ourselves we are willing to forgive the little white lies and even some outright lies told by others, including those told by some business people."

Lies don't stink when we want them so desperatedly to work out, create our new social order, or even just to buy a proven business model.

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on September 09, 2008 (boomark / email).