Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Is lying a social standard To avoid awkward conversation topics? Is this because of roots in very closed proper formalities and concepts of appropriate dialoge? Like when a young couple is staying at a hotel after not seeing each other for a long time and they are not picking up their cell phones, if you ask why they didn't answer, "my battery was dead" is a likely response. Is this a truth, lie, half truth, omission of the truth, and/ or an avoidance of a socially unacceptable topic? Is that the proper thing to say in the culture with taboos that are done anyway? if something doesn't make sense and would require a lot of additional explanation, do you simplify it with an equivalent explanation that is not completely accurate so that valuable time is focused on the intended topic?

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1 comment:

  1. I think so, to an extent. Sometimes a 'white' lie just exists to satisfy the question and open up an opportunity for the individual to shift the focus of the conversation off him or herself and onto the other person while
    changing the topic.

    In your example, it'd go like, "So where were you last night? How come I couldn't get ahold of you?" You say, "My battery in my phone died, sorry about that. So how was our day?" Then you shift the focus off you and onto them and avoid, or at least try to, the potentially awkward topic at hand. :)

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