| FWIW I don't think lying is any more common now than it ever was. Everyone lies, especially the people who say they never do. The research shows that even babies lie- they begin testing out duplicity at around 6 months, when they engage in fake crying to attract attention. The only reason we noticed the lies, or exaggerations, or whatever you want to call them, is because they happened to be about something important, and the way they were used led to a debacle. If someone lies to you and says "I know the winning lottery numbers for tomorrow and they are XXXXXXXX", and that turns out to be true, no one comes back on the liar, because it's a success. So the last "big lies" that we remember were about Vietnam and Iran Contra- enterprises that went rather badly, but there have been innumerable lies in between, and there will be innumerable lies in our future. People lie naturally to save their skins, to cover their embarrassment, to puff themselves up, and recreationally. It has always been so, and I see no reason for it to ever change. |
