Is keeping silent a form of lying?
So, is it?
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Eh, in those cases, you could've just said something like a little white lie or a slight comment like "I like the dish you made for the party but it's a little too salty/spicy/needs some more of______". Being silent could save you the embarassment but it also does censor yourself in critical situations.
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Silence is nothing. By staying in silence, you are neither giving an affirmative nor a negative answer or opinion to/about anything. You are neither telling the truth, and neither are you lying.
But in certain cases, like the first one of the OP, since not raising your arm means you don't play an instrument, it's the same as if you are lying.
But in certain cases, like the first one of the OP, since not raising your arm means you don't play an instrument, it's the same as if you are lying.
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jmason
Curious and Wondering
In a situation where truth should be presented, silence could and may be the easiest and most convenient form of a lie. But silence shouldn't be a sole necessity to judge that a person is lying.
Basically, by keeping silent, it possibly can hold back a truth and ultimately being denied of its rightfulness of being known. And since a spoken/written lie also holds back a truth from being known, albeit intentionally, they're somewhat of a same pattern.
But I think this could change depending on how you look at it and take it. For example (taken from ImperialX's first one), if the teacher asks for people who know how to play musical instruments and some keeps silent and don't raise their hand, the possibility is divided equally on the rest of the people who didn't raise their hands: either they're lying bumsqueaks who just doesn't want to play anything and are plain lazy, or they're genuinely really incapable of good usage of any musical instrument (e.g. people who have no musical instrument training). What could tip the scales of this balance is EVIDENCE. If the teacher has evidence that some of the people who didn't raise hands can actually play some instruments, those people are lying and the rest are exonerated.
Point is, silence shouldn't be taken singularly. You need evidence. Another example: You are an attorney for a prosecuting team at a trial grilling a defendant. You have presented overwhelming evidence of a massive money laundering scam, most of it undisputable, and ask a question to the defendant - "Are these your signatures on each of these documents?". Silence here is quite a good evidence in itself to the trial onlookers - it is a wordless form of a lie.
Back to the teacher-student situation. You're the teacher, and you draw an algebraic expression on the board. Then you ask the class - "Does anybody know the solution to this? Raise your hand if you know the answer". You see your top honor student not raising his hand while some were raising theirs. You know he's good with math. Last time you held an algebra exam with questions tougher than the one you put up on the board, he aced it. Do you think your top honor student is lying to a degree by keeping silent?
Another good way to tell a lie (as some psychologists put it) is if a person in question keeps silent but keeps doing or exhibiting peculiarity, like twirling hair with finger, sweating, fast heartbeat, stuttering, eyes averted, keep changing topics, and the like, it's somehow good evidence that can pinpoint and identify silence as a lie.
Also, think of the changes in the degree of belief you'll have in this one: You have a friend you suspect is cheating you out of money based on one document you read in one of your annual reports (unsupported documents, for now) that you lost a million on reasons traceable to one action your friend did. You ask him, "Are you stealing money from me?" He goes silent. Take note of the degree of your belief in him as lying to you.
Then you get your money and financial books related to your transactions with your friend and goes to three different accounting and consultation firms. All of them concluded your friend is cheating you out of huge sums of undisclosed money.
Then you ask your friend again the same question: "Are you stealing money from me?" He goes silent again. Did your belief in him lying increased further with his silence? What do you think?
ED: This is a nice topic for a healthy discussion, ImperialX. I somehow enjoyed writing this piece.
Basically, by keeping silent, it possibly can hold back a truth and ultimately being denied of its rightfulness of being known. And since a spoken/written lie also holds back a truth from being known, albeit intentionally, they're somewhat of a same pattern.
But I think this could change depending on how you look at it and take it. For example (taken from ImperialX's first one), if the teacher asks for people who know how to play musical instruments and some keeps silent and don't raise their hand, the possibility is divided equally on the rest of the people who didn't raise their hands: either they're lying bumsqueaks who just doesn't want to play anything and are plain lazy, or they're genuinely really incapable of good usage of any musical instrument (e.g. people who have no musical instrument training). What could tip the scales of this balance is EVIDENCE. If the teacher has evidence that some of the people who didn't raise hands can actually play some instruments, those people are lying and the rest are exonerated.
Point is, silence shouldn't be taken singularly. You need evidence. Another example: You are an attorney for a prosecuting team at a trial grilling a defendant. You have presented overwhelming evidence of a massive money laundering scam, most of it undisputable, and ask a question to the defendant - "Are these your signatures on each of these documents?". Silence here is quite a good evidence in itself to the trial onlookers - it is a wordless form of a lie.
Back to the teacher-student situation. You're the teacher, and you draw an algebraic expression on the board. Then you ask the class - "Does anybody know the solution to this? Raise your hand if you know the answer". You see your top honor student not raising his hand while some were raising theirs. You know he's good with math. Last time you held an algebra exam with questions tougher than the one you put up on the board, he aced it. Do you think your top honor student is lying to a degree by keeping silent?
Another good way to tell a lie (as some psychologists put it) is if a person in question keeps silent but keeps doing or exhibiting peculiarity, like twirling hair with finger, sweating, fast heartbeat, stuttering, eyes averted, keep changing topics, and the like, it's somehow good evidence that can pinpoint and identify silence as a lie.
Also, think of the changes in the degree of belief you'll have in this one: You have a friend you suspect is cheating you out of money based on one document you read in one of your annual reports (unsupported documents, for now) that you lost a million on reasons traceable to one action your friend did. You ask him, "Are you stealing money from me?" He goes silent. Take note of the degree of your belief in him as lying to you.
Then you get your money and financial books related to your transactions with your friend and goes to three different accounting and consultation firms. All of them concluded your friend is cheating you out of huge sums of undisclosed money.
Then you ask your friend again the same question: "Are you stealing money from me?" He goes silent again. Did your belief in him lying increased further with his silence? What do you think?
ED: This is a nice topic for a healthy discussion, ImperialX. I somehow enjoyed writing this piece.
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Yeah, it's lying. But if you want to talk about it seriously, it's a low-level lie.
If the teacher asks the class if anyone plays an instrument, and you don't raise your hand despite being able to play an instrument, that's a level one lie (Cure; Blizzard; Fire). If the teacher asks you specifically if you can play an instrument, and you say no, then that's a level three lie (Curaga; Blizzaga; Firaga). (An example of a level two lie [Cura; Blizzara; Fira] would be if the teacher asked you if you could play the guitar, and you said no, despite being able to play it on a very basic, very bad level. You can't really play the guitar, but you know more than someone who has never picked up a guitar before.)
Defining lying is simple - it's not telling the truth. Even if you say nothing, if you don't reveal the truth, then you're not telling the truth. If I say someone get murdered by a friend of mine but never told anyone that my friend did it, while the police investigated the murder to no avail, I would be lying, and I would be punished for it if the truth ever did come out.
Lying is a personal thing. Others may know that you are lying, but even if no one else knows, it's still a lie.
If the teacher asks the class if anyone plays an instrument, and you don't raise your hand despite being able to play an instrument, that's a level one lie (Cure; Blizzard; Fire). If the teacher asks you specifically if you can play an instrument, and you say no, then that's a level three lie (Curaga; Blizzaga; Firaga). (An example of a level two lie [Cura; Blizzara; Fira] would be if the teacher asked you if you could play the guitar, and you said no, despite being able to play it on a very basic, very bad level. You can't really play the guitar, but you know more than someone who has never picked up a guitar before.)
Defining lying is simple - it's not telling the truth. Even if you say nothing, if you don't reveal the truth, then you're not telling the truth. If I say someone get murdered by a friend of mine but never told anyone that my friend did it, while the police investigated the murder to no avail, I would be lying, and I would be punished for it if the truth ever did come out.
Lying is a personal thing. Others may know that you are lying, but even if no one else knows, it's still a lie.
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TheDarkStarAlchemist
Requests Moderator
ShaggyJebus wrote...
If the teacher asks the class if anyone plays an instrument, and you don't raise your hand despite being able to play an instrument, that's a level one lie (Cure; Blizzard; Fire). If the teacher asks you specifically if you can play an instrument, and you say no, then that's a level three lie (Curaga; Blizzaga; Firaga). (An example of a level two lie [Cura; Blizzara; Fira] would be if the teacher asked you if you could play the guitar, and you said no, despite being able to play it on a very basic, very bad level. You can't really play the guitar, but you know more than someone who has never picked up a guitar before.)Interesting analogy you got there.
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ImperialX wrote...
This is a problem that I've been thinking about for quite some time. I guess the best way to illustrate my point is through an example:You're sitting in your primary school's "home room", and your teacher asks everyone who knows how to play an instrument to put his/her hand up. You know that whoever puts their hand up with undeniably be dragged into the orchestra, and you don't want to see the music teacher because you hate his guts. You don't put your hand up.
ImperialX wrote...
OK, how about another example?Your friend is having a party. He made some food which taste absolutely repulsive. He asks the people sitting at the table if they like it. You, not wanting to offend him, keep silent, even though you're finding it hard to swallow.
In both cases, the person would be lying. Both situations are constructed in such a way that they search for affirmative responses. Lack of response indicates the other choice. An example of a non-response not being a lie would be if a person asks a yes or no question. This makes it so that silence isn't affiliated with either choice.
ShaggyJebus wrote...
Defining lying is simple - it's not telling the truth.My view is the opposite. Truth is the absence of lying.
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Actually, it honestly depends on what you see a lie is. In an earlier post, I saw that he/she stated a lie as "not telling the truth." However, some other people (including me) believe that telling a lie is to deceive someone. So if a person asks question that cannot be answered without saying anything, for example, "Tell me if you think this tastes good," if you don't answer, you're not giving a straightforward answer like "Yes" or "No." You are not deceiving him because you haven't given him an answer. The other person can always assume want he wants to assume what you're thinking, but you have not given a direct answer, so you haven't come to the extent to deceiving him, telling him that his drink tastes good and making him believe you like his drink. However, in the case of the professor telling the class to raise their hand if they know the answer, that actually is a lie because they do in fact deceive the professor by not answering, because by not answering, you cause him to believe that you do not know the answer. I believe I may have poorly portrayed my point, please point out anything you find stupid or whatever.
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A lying is conveying a false impression. You don't have to say anything, but if in not saying it, you impress upon something that is other than the truth, you are lying.
No, because pleading the 5th is a legally acceptable response under certain conditions. That doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't lying.
fatman wrote...
If keeping quiet is lying, then is pleading the fifth perjury?No, because pleading the 5th is a legally acceptable response under certain conditions. That doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't lying.
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mibuchiha wrote...
To me, lying means doing an act that deceives. Then of course I think keeping silent is lying, because it gives the wrong impression of either you agree, or not having an opinion about something when you do have it. Yeah, some may argue that you're doing nothing at all...but again, it leads to a consequence, so that act of keeping silence means something and thus, that means you did something, that is, letting people think xx about you.And no, I don't believe in the "lying for a good cause" thing. Whatever it is, truth is always better and lying is lying.
I disagree personally. For me lying by keeping silent is a conducive (ie good) form of lying. Sometimes a lie protects a persons feelings and yes sometimes it also covers a persons 'sins and transgressions' but tbh for all we know some of our most fundamental beliefs are lies, that people hide from us to protect us. Life is not simple enough anymore for us to always be completely honest, its just an excuses for people to exploit you. Or at least thats my opinon :)
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Lack of information, which does not equal wrong information, rather comes from the lack of observation than the intentionally withheld information itself.
Withholding information reduces the observer solely to his observation alone, it does neither deceive nor necessarily mislead. A lie, on the other hand, serves the single purpose of manipulation - it is false information told with the intent of altering someone's perception.
The difference between keeping silent and a lie should be quite clear.
Withholding information reduces the observer solely to his observation alone, it does neither deceive nor necessarily mislead. A lie, on the other hand, serves the single purpose of manipulation - it is false information told with the intent of altering someone's perception.
The difference between keeping silent and a lie should be quite clear.
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It depends on how the question is asked, however in most cases, I think keeping silent is the general right of a person, if it doesn't want to involve itself further, thus it is not lying.
I rather think that, given your first example, such questions are not really fair towards others, because you take away a viable option (keeping silent) from them, though most people, that really want to get an answer like formulating like that. Though from my point of view, not showing up is not a lie, as it is a voluntary action and thus you have the right to withdraw from the activity (or if you got the guts you can throw it into the teachers face that the respective individuals - the teachers - taste for music is not to your liking and you are inclined to decline the request.)
However I think it depends a lot on your gestures / mimics.
If, given your example with the cooking, you make a decent gesture pointing towards you disliking the food, I think it is the best alternative, rather than telling someone: "Sorry, it tastes like crap, but don't be disheartened."
I rather think that, given your first example, such questions are not really fair towards others, because you take away a viable option (keeping silent) from them, though most people, that really want to get an answer like formulating like that. Though from my point of view, not showing up is not a lie, as it is a voluntary action and thus you have the right to withdraw from the activity (or if you got the guts you can throw it into the teachers face that the respective individuals - the teachers - taste for music is not to your liking and you are inclined to decline the request.)
However I think it depends a lot on your gestures / mimics.
If, given your example with the cooking, you make a decent gesture pointing towards you disliking the food, I think it is the best alternative, rather than telling someone: "Sorry, it tastes like crap, but don't be disheartened."
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I don't see why it is because you are not making any gestures communication has to have two people talking to predict the lies commited by the person if I was not to speak no one would know and although they might think I do if I am truly innocent then it would not affect me.
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WTF.
Does that mean that I now have to correct everyones misconceptions or I would be lying to them. That's fucking bullshit.
Does that mean that I now have to correct everyones misconceptions or I would be lying to them. That's fucking bullshit.
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i think it depends on the person. most likely, i would guess that keeping silent would mean that
A) you are lying
B) something much deeper than a lie
C)you are nervous about raising your hand, speaking in front of others, and etc(less likely)
when i lie, i start smiling.. i dunno why... i've tried to stop that habit but it never works, so i prefer not lying rather than looking like an idiot giggling and smiling...
A) you are lying
B) something much deeper than a lie
C)you are nervous about raising your hand, speaking in front of others, and etc(less likely)
when i lie, i start smiling.. i dunno why... i've tried to stop that habit but it never works, so i prefer not lying rather than looking like an idiot giggling and smiling...
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I guess
Silent is the Best Option of Lying
rather than Making up Stories
But i think Silent is Isn't Form of Lying
Its Sealing your Lips from lie
When i Lie it will be hard for you to Guess If im really Lying or not
Unless if you Really Know me you can Guess if im lying..
But Now im Just Lying to Make An Excuse to Escape From a situation
or just to say an Believable Excuse that will be Suite for my Personality
to Escape to a Boring Situation or a Complicated Situation.....
Silent is the Best Option of Lying
rather than Making up Stories
But i think Silent is Isn't Form of Lying
Its Sealing your Lips from lie
When i Lie it will be hard for you to Guess If im really Lying or not
Unless if you Really Know me you can Guess if im lying..
But Now im Just Lying to Make An Excuse to Escape From a situation
or just to say an Believable Excuse that will be Suite for my Personality
to Escape to a Boring Situation or a Complicated Situation.....
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Silence isn't lying. Silence just means you gave no answer. If someone asks you a question and you remain silent, does that mean you're a liar? No, it doesn't. That's just stereotyping people.
Some people may not understand the question so they don't answer, some people are just too lazy to answer, but it doesn't mean they are lying. Lies are to deceive and give misleading information. Giving no answer is giving no information which isn't true and which isn't false.
That's like taking a test and it asking:
Do you know how to play an instrument? Circle an answer below.
A) Yes
B) No
You decide not to circle either one. Okay... well, that doesn't mean you're lying. It simply implies you may not want to answer or don't know.
The example with the homeroom teacher is vague since the teacher didn't ask who doesn't know how to play an instrument. Some may think they know how to play the instruments and raise their hands when they actually have no experience, some may lack confidence and not raise their hand even if they know how to play an instrument. Point is, if you think you're good at playing an instrument then you will raise your hand. If you think you're bad and cannot play the instrument, you won't raise your hand. No one will know the truth until you actually play the instrument.
If you remain silent, no one will ever know if you're telling the truth or if you're telling a lie until you actually say something.
Some people may not understand the question so they don't answer, some people are just too lazy to answer, but it doesn't mean they are lying. Lies are to deceive and give misleading information. Giving no answer is giving no information which isn't true and which isn't false.
That's like taking a test and it asking:
Do you know how to play an instrument? Circle an answer below.
A) Yes
B) No
You decide not to circle either one. Okay... well, that doesn't mean you're lying. It simply implies you may not want to answer or don't know.
The example with the homeroom teacher is vague since the teacher didn't ask who doesn't know how to play an instrument. Some may think they know how to play the instruments and raise their hands when they actually have no experience, some may lack confidence and not raise their hand even if they know how to play an instrument. Point is, if you think you're good at playing an instrument then you will raise your hand. If you think you're bad and cannot play the instrument, you won't raise your hand. No one will know the truth until you actually play the instrument.
If you remain silent, no one will ever know if you're telling the truth or if you're telling a lie until you actually say something.
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Keeping silent is a form of lying. But what some people don't realize is that sometimes the truth would hurt more than a lie. Sometimes lying can show more concern for a person's well being than telling them a painful truth. Example:
> You have received a gift from your girlfriend. She can't sew worth crap but does try to get better. She has sown together the worst piece of crap sweater you have ever seen. After opening the present she is looking happily and expectantly at you waiting for your response...
Would you honestly tell her that you hated it?
> You have received a gift from your girlfriend. She can't sew worth crap but does try to get better. She has sown together the worst piece of crap sweater you have ever seen. After opening the present she is looking happily and expectantly at you waiting for your response...
Would you honestly tell her that you hated it?