Uh oh…
This sure doesn’t sound good, does it?
Not being able to lie anymore?
AT ALL?!?!
Well, I guess today is Judgment Day…
Check out how screwed AskReddit users said they’d be if they weren’t able to lie anymore.
This should be interesting…
Won’t be too bad.
“Eh, not that f**ked.
You don’t have to tell the brutally blunt truth if you can’t lie. People like to create this false dichotomy that you can only either say something harsh/mean OR “lie”.
Imagine your partner asks you if you like the outfit they are wearing. You don’t. But you don’t have to say you hate the outfit. Saying “I like that you like it” (assuming that’s a true statement) is both true and supportive, even if you’re not expressing the feeling that you personally dislike the outfit.
Now, some people are going to want to argue about whether this meets their personal definition of what constitutes a “lie” or “being honest”. To that, I say that people who want to sit and argue semantics and play word games are just miserable, in my opinion.”
Not anymore.
“Fine. I used to lie a lot.
But I have found out taking the truth is just as fun.
Also this isn’t a liar liar scenario where you have to respond. Remaining silent would also help.”
It’s a plan!
“I will just start saying my beliefs.
Things I can’t say must be false.
Then I’ll go work as an advisor for world governments.”
You’re gonna lose your job.
“Personal life I think I’m fine because I’m pretty honest.
But my job requires me to be nice even when people are wrong.
So I probably wont make it past an hour.”
It’s an impulse.
“Not much would be different.
I impulsively answer truthfully to almost everything. It has not served me well and I must force myself to sugarcoat stuff and phrase stuff differently so I can simultaneously speak the truth but allow the other person to interpret it in a different way.
It is exhausting. People take so much irrelevant stuff personally.”
Be quiet.
“Just spend the rest of my life responding with, “I’d rather not say”, “No comment”, and “I plead the 5th”.
You didn’t make it a rule that I couldn’t avoid answering questions or just not answer in the first place.”
What am I supposed to do?
“If I couldn’t lie, I have no idea what I would say. I already avoid deceiving people, so that isn’t a problem, but what might I say about myself and my own motivations?
I see others deceiving themselves all the time, so I have no idea what the truth about myself, in my own opinion, might actually be. For example, I don’t do things that hurt other people, but I think bad things all the time.
Would I feel compelled to reveal those things for the sake of honesty, and would that make me a bad person in my own estimation? I have no idea, so it might be very illuminating to not be able to lie.”
Not good at it.
“In actual practice in my current daily life; no change at all.
If this change is permanent; likely be a big nuisance not being able to do white lies but as a general rule it wouldn’t make or be a life altering difference for me – already suck at lying.”
We’re done here.
“I’m neurodivergent and already struggle with being a bit too honest for my own good… I’d be so f**ked.
Probably lose my job immediately.”
You’re screwed.
“Pretty screwed.
I typically just make up things when my daughter asks me questions. I’d have to give her the real answer which would inevitably lead to further questions.
She’s still small so I’d like to do this a little while longer.”
How screwed would you be if you couldn’t lie?
Talk to us in the comments and let us know.
Thanks a lot!
