On Lies, Deception, and Hypocrisy

Many, if not most, of the world’s problems are rooted in deception.  Put simply, people lie.  A lot of people lie, and a lot of people lie a lot of the time.  In their own minds, perhaps they are not lying at all, or perhaps they realize they are lying but are able to rationalize it in some way.  In light of this, as a person in the world, one does not have complete and accurate information.  One only has the information that one is given, in the form and manner in which it is given.  One may take such information at face value, view it skeptically, or not accept it at all.  But the fact that misinformation is a commonality necessarily means that no one is ever working with complete, accurate information – there is typically some lingering doubt as to whether one has been deceived.  And such lingering doubt is indeed justified.

 I wonder what the world’s economic markets would be like if people were apprised of, and making decisions based on, much more accurate information.  I am not an economist, but I suspect that the markets would be much more stable and predictable if that were the case.  The same is true in the marketplace of human relations. 

 While no one is completely honest, a few people may be more honest than most.  These are the people who take most things at face value, because they themselves are honest and expect the same of others a lot of the time.  These are the people who, in many cases, act on false or incomplete information.   They expect people’s words to be true, and their actions to accord with their professed values and beliefs.  These honest persons may be the most negatively impacted by the prevailing marketplace of inaccurate and incomplete information, because they act and base many decisions on such misinformation believing it to be true.  They are not as capable as others of recognizing lies, deceit, and hypocrisy.  And they may be the most disappointed to realize when such deceptions are revealed. 

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