honesty is the best policy?

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by (((tartanism)))

usually i can tell when people are being dishnest to me simply by looking them in the eyes. sometimes, if somebody is lying to you and you look them directly in the eyes they cannot look in yours, or they turn away or smile, or any combination of the latter. its all about the energy that we give off, and someone has the really control their energy to decieve someone who looks them directly in the eyes.

This works unless the person telling the lie has convinced themselves it's the truth. If they believe it, they will have no trouble supporting what they say and looking at you in the eye while they do it. If they are actively trying to lie to you, and do not believe what they are saying, then the whole eye thing works better, but breaks down if someone is well practiced and lies all the time.

[Tarantism]

hmm yeah that was one problem...the thing is, if someone is telling me something that isnt the truth, if they truely believe it then are they really lying
?

is that fair? i dont think so, becuase quite clearly they simply dont know any better. i may take that oppertunityto educate them with the knowlege that i posess and they do not, but its just hard for me to call that a lie.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by (((tartanism)))

hmm yeah that was one problem...the thing is, if someone is telling me something that isnt the truth, if they truely believe it then are they really lying
?

is that fair? i dont think so, becuase quite clearly they simply dont know any better. i may take that oppertunityto educate them with the knowlege that i posess and they do not, but its just hard for me to call that a lie.

That's an excellent excellent point, tartanism. I was more following BigDog's logic about them being manipulative and somewhat mentally ill, but how does one distinguish it if they truly believe what they are saying and not just going all CIA on you?

That's a tough call. It reminds me of much of the debate with religion and science. We hold to our positions so strongly because we think it's the truth.

Great point.