Nature vs Nuture do Lies Trump Truth?, page 1

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Topic started on 9-3-2009 @ 09:52 PM by The All Seeing I

The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the greatest liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
~ H. L. Mencken

It appears to be a basic fact of human nature that we are attracted to lies and scared of the truth... or could it just be that we have been brainwashed by our society through education and media to have such preferences?

Often the difference between a company's success and failure is a good PR/ad company... and in government we rarely ever punish error, only its disclosure.

Same can be found in our personal lives. Lies bring us together and keep us together via religion, government and economic status. It's the truth that pulls these superficial relationships apart and allows us to connect with depth and true understanding.

[edit on 9-3-2009 by The All Seeing I]

reply posted on 9-3-2009 @ 09:56 PM by reticledc

Absolutely.
A good story wins every time.

People would rather believe a lie, because they are comfortable in it's relative simplicity, than to have to make any EXTRA effort to reveal the truth.
Especially when it comes to the truth about themselves.

Take a look at the affairs of the world for an answer to this question.
Lied to every day be the powers that be, but we continue to remain comfortable in our complacence.

[edit on 9/3/2009 by reticledc]

reply posted on 9-3-2009 @ 10:01 PM by AshleyD

reply to post by The All Seeing I

Great thread. Just like they say, 'the truth hurts' but 'ignorance is bliss.'

I hate to bring up Obama and Ron Paul but we don't need to go further than the campaign and outcome to see an example in action. One painted beautiful air castles and won, the other told what I believe to be the truth but lost.

It's unfortunate human nature to feel more comfortable with a comforting lie than a hard truth.

reply posted on 9-3-2009 @ 11:36 PM by The All Seeing I

Maybe this is more about nurture in that we lack maturity. An intellectually lazy and shallow citizenship with a gerbil's attention span, that is unwilling or unable to face reality.

In other words, our developmental environment leaves us at such a character deficit that we can only comprehend fantasy. This may explain why the majority of our populous is made of sheeple.

Looking at parental and educational standards, critical thinking skills are not an asset... only regurgitating information and following directions make the grade.

[edit on 9-3-2009 by The All Seeing I]

reply posted on 10-3-2009 @ 12:27 PM by The All Seeing I

With further consideration, look at what professions our society rewards.

In business; sales, marketing, advertising and public relations executives.

In entertainment; movie and sport stars.

In law; politicians and corporate attorneys.

...and on the flip side, you have social workers and teachers being paid peanuts with lame health care coverage and no 401k.

In sum, those who spin and/or distract for a living live large while those who help others improve their understanding of themselves and others, barely make a living.

No wonder the liars rule.

reply posted on 10-3-2009 @ 11:19 PM by The All Seeing I

Ashley... here's an article that supports your observation and backs my suspicions that maturity plays a large part in the why and how, lies trump truth... aka fantasy trumps reality.

Voters use child-like judgments when judging political candidates

reply posted on 14-3-2009 @ 08:12 AM by The All Seeing I

Now if we consider our collective conditioning in upbringing within the realm of believe systems, it becomes abundantly clear why we embrace lies and avoid the truth.

Case in point: Santa vs God... is there really any difference?

reply posted on 16-3-2009 @ 09:47 PM by reticledc

While I do agree with some points, I would also say that as a society, the conditioning is more towards the individual.
Individualistic thinking entails believing one's own sense of superiority, when in actuality they are not.
All you would need to confirm this is to take a drive down any major highway.
You get the point.
We are so conditioned to seek instant gratification that we fail to realize, "It's a sales pitch."
We are a ''MC Donald's generation.''
The lie is that "YOU" can attain the world if you just buy .......
The lie is that "YOU" deserve a break today.
The lie is "ZOOM ZOOM"
The lie is "Move or get out of the way."
The lie is "everyone else is an AHole and I am perfect"

The truth is "It's a sales pitch"
The truth is "The break you deserve will put some 3000 calories into your body, clog your arteries, contains no nutritional value, and cost you about $12.00 and will take you a week or more to exercise off."
The truth it "ZOOM ZOOM towards a traffic ticket or an accident"
The truth is "We want you to feel that YOU dominate the road when you buy our well deserved luxury vehicle when in fact you are merely just another statistic waiting for us to add to our false safety rating system and if you crash, you will just buy another one with the insurance and do it all over again. WIN, WIN for us"

The truth is all of this constant bombardment by what we "NEED" is what makes us what we are.
It's so much easier to believe "WE" have a good bead on things and that "WE"
control our live and make "OUR" own decisions.
When in fact all we are is a paying customer.

This goes against our very "nature" by "nurturing" these false states of mind.

[edit on 16/3/2009 by reticledc]

reply posted on 17-3-2009 @ 07:38 AM by The All Seeing I

reply to post by reticledc

Well said, and based on these observations i think it's safe to say that our society doesn't know the difference between what they WANT and NEED. It's almost as if they are one and the same, corporations give millions to the marketing/advertising giants to hire psychologists to conduct focus groups in an effort to find new innovative ways to make our WANTs parade around as NEEDs. To fuel the insatiable hunger of filling up that void within us.

reply posted on 27-5-2009 @ 08:29 AM by The All Seeing I

Originally posted by reticledc
Absolutely.
A good story wins every time.

Case in point:

Holocaust Faker Speaks Out (click to access video interview)

Oprah Winfrey called it the "greatest love story" she'd ever had on her show.

Herman Rosenblat received international attention for his tale about being a hungry little boy in a Nazi concentration camp who was thrown apples every day by a little girl named Roma, on the other side of the fence.

Years later, according to the story, Rosenblat met that same girl on a blind date in New York City and proposed to her on the spot.

The only problem was, Rosenblat's story, which he and his wife had been telling for 13 years, was a lie.

Six weeks ago Holocaust scholars proved that it was physically impossible for prisoners to approach the fence at the concentration camp where Herman was kept and that Roma's family was actually 200 miles away at the time.

"It wasn't a lie," he told Good Morning America. "It was my imagination. And in my imagination, in my mind, I believed it. Even now, I believe it, that she was there and she threw the apple to me. ... In my imagination, it was true."

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