The Liar Class

I have always been an honest person. My commitment to honesty was further bolstered a year or so ago when I read Lying (on audiobook). I now can say that I will only lie (deliberately deceive someone when they reasonably expect not to be deceived) to people with whom I am at war. 

I’ve observed that honesty is a privilege; some people are in difficult situations where they cannot afford to be honest, or they don’t understand the long-term effects of lying. Whatever the causes may be, the effects are that honest people comprise what acts similarly to a socioeconomic class. Honest people do business with other honest people and try to isolate themselves from liars. It’s a higher class and a liar class.

I learned recently that a friend of a friend, let’s call him Fred, was concocting lies in an attempt to make a girl stay interested in him. My reaction was so dismissive and so complete that I surprised myself, something like, “Assuming this is true, I want nothing to do with Fred until I see him again in a few years and he comes off completely differently.” I realized today that the change Fred would have to undergo before I would reconsider him is akin to upward mobility: it’s totally possible, but it’s really hard, it takes a long time, and not many people end up making it.