Lying

Lying to Kids: good, bad, neither?

What's the harm in an occasional white lie for a good reason: “If you buy into Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, what's another here and there?” says a mother.

about God
Lies are told to adults, all the time. Ask a police officer. Adults believe lies, just like kids, of course. God is too malleable a concept to say if it's a lie or truth, without clarifying what you're talking about, and even then, it might require a bit of research to see if the concept is plausible.

msnbc has a story today that writes about lying and parenting; link.

about Death
"A young child, for instance, could be deeply troubled by knowing that a relative or beloved pet was buried in the ground or cremated, he explains, so what’s the point in divulging those details?When Eileen Neuwirth’s dog died several months ago, she and her husband told their preschooler that the dog went to heaven. In hindsight, though, she wishes she’d told her son the classic white lie about the dog going off to a big farm to live happily ever after frolicking with the other animals. “The idea of heaven really weighs on his mind and he is constantly asking about it,” says Neuwirth, 32, who lives in the Los Angeles area. “I think that the notion is too abstract for him but he gets it enough for it to make him insecure. … He tells me all of the time that when I go to heaven he will be so mad that he will knock all of his toys and our whole house down. It's so sweet and heartbreaking because I can see the anxiety in his face when he thinks about it.”
After an elderly neighbor died, Neuwirth tried to use the occasion to explain to her son, who’s 3, that people — and dogs — usually die and go to heaven when they get really old, like the neighbor and their dog. But it doesn’t seem to have helped. “Again, it was too much info,” she says.

True lies
All the fantasy and fiction filling our bookshelves and movie theaters stays in our heads, and creates personal and consensus realities. They are lies, though, to be technical (if however based upon reality/real experience). Life imitates art. Lies become true. And we start to believe the lies we tell ourselves. And lying may carry a karmic load. Stephen King got hit by a car and suffered a broken leg awhile back, you know. And Chevy Chase chased a Chevy on the freeway, I heard. ANyway..

One fictional story about lying itself is Pinocchio. His nose grew every time he told a lie. Is that a coded way of saying we "knows" more, the more we lie? Is lying the best way to get at the truth?

Lying can be detected easily. There are chronic liars. George Washington said "I cannot tell a lie." Was he lying? Of course. Anyone can lie. They say we all do. That could be a lie, too. There's a science of lying and truth-detection. Eye movements relative to whether you're right or left handed.. Voice quivering. The Blade Runner stuff. Hannibal Lecter said "Don't lie, or I'll know." A lie is an intentional misrepresentation. A falsehood isn't necessarily a lie. Although that statement is a lie, in many circles. Circles, ha. Mendacious is a good word for a liar. Lying Liars and the Lies they Tell is a book by Al Franken. You're quite Franken, Clarice. Frankenstein...Al Franken combined with Ben Stein, now that's scary.

There are different levels of lying, from fibs and white lies to whoppers. Do you want Mayo on your whopper? What's the difference between a falsehood and an untruth? Is every proposition always either true or false?

It's all true, every word!
By the way, Santa (which means saint in Spanish) is both historical and mythical. Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus. He was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity.

And the easter bunny...It's origin is disputed; some trace it to alleged pre-Christian fertility lore, others to the role of the hare in Christian iconography. The easter bunny is soft and sexy! Just go to the Playboy mansion at Easter, with your rabbit's foot! Hare krishna!

And the tooth fairy...The fairy gives children a gift (often money) in exchange for a baby tooth when it comes out of the child's mouth. Children typically leave the tooth under their pillow for the fairy to take while they sleep. The tooth fairy then adds the tooth to a special part of her mythical and ever expanding all-white tooth castle in the sky.

If the tooth fairy doesn't exist, then where does the money come from? And why are clouds white? Huh?? Answer me that! Lol.