Friday, September 29, 2006

Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive!




When Sir Walter Scott wrote those words nearly 200 years ago, but its a quotation about deceit...As children, we are told that lies are bad. We are not told why. It is a rule to be followed, not questioned. The truth is that no one follows the rule all the time. We are all economical with the truth from time to time, whether to conceal a plan for a surprise party, to avoid revealing our true feelings on your friends cooking, and yet the repercussions are so much greaters.

Who amongst us have not lied! Good on you! I have not ashamed to say I have, for better or for worse. As humans, we rely on truthful information to make rational decisions about our lives. We also rely on lies to progress forward. "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" wrote Sir Walter Scott. Quite true, but the web weaved by truth may be even more damaging. The key problem is identifying, explaining and justifying the circumstances when deception is preferable to honesty.

Hemmingway did not tell a single lie in order to cloud the truth. Like him, we also can by using creative use of the English language, deliberately blurred the distinction between truth and a lie. Thats life out there. We read, we see, and we life with lies and deception all around us the only difference is the magnitute of that deception, small, big, major till someone would commit suicide?

Oh yeah Oct 14 comes around again

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

effects of watching 'One Tree Hill'.....:)
was thinking of you when that came up

darthvadai said...

i am the kind of webs.... at least I dun hide from it anymore... it bare for all to see

well for those who want to see...unlike some who are just blind