Are you a good liar?
Are you good at lying or otherwise deceiving others? This isn't so much a question of how often you lie, why you lie, or how you feel about it when you lie. Lying is a skill like any other--it can be used for good or ill. It's not a good thing to do, by default, but being good at lying can be useful. Note that this doesn't include lying to oneself, as that is a whole other can of worms.
I feel like aspies might be more likely to pick up on how to lie to avoid bullying, abuse, or being judged for being on the spectrum. I could also understand many aspies not being so good at lying because of a general lack of social skills. I've also met at least one aspy who straight up can't lie. This goes beyond obvious moral objections to it, but it seems more that they don't 'get' it, if that makes any sense.
I'm not exactly proud of it but I think I'm a pretty good liar. I'm great at seeming sincere and coming up with simple, believable lies when needed. This extends to eg: lying by omission, deceiving with specific phrasing, deceiving with specific facts, etc. I say all this but I hate hate hate lying and avoid it whenever possible. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth. But I, like too many of us, have been abused or bullied, and it never felt too wrong to lie if it kept me from being made miserable for no good reason.
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Diagnoses: AS, Depression, General & Social Anxiety
I guess I just wasn't made for these times.
- Brian Wilson
Δυνατὰ δὲ οἱ προύχοντες πράσσουσι καὶ οἱ ἀσθενεῖς ξυγχωροῦσιν.
Those with power do what their power permits, and the weak can only acquiesce.
- Thucydides
I can in some ways. Sometimes rather too well.
Only because I happened to like keeping secrets to myself, whether for my own benefit or someone else's.
And I wouldn't for any reason other than that.
The rest are...
At best/worst, sustained misunderstandings -- either didn't or couldn't correct anyone for it.
Otherwise, I'd suck at direct lying.
Chances I'd be accuse of lying due to memory issues and struggling with words than any attempt of deceiving.
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I can lie and I can fool people. But I try not to use this skill for bad purposes. I usually use this skill for things like saving someone's feelings, avoid trouble, avoid having to explain something, keep a secret someone has told me, etc. It's quite easy and I don't have much difficulties with lying.
When I was a teenager I used to tell stupid lies that got found out, but it's because I used to fantasize so much. Like when I was 16 I had a crush on this guy who my friend's mother knew. This guy did not know me but I told my friend that he comes to my house every Friday evening, and for a while she believed it. But because her mother knew this guy, I forgot that there was only a matter of time before it became obvious that he wasn't coming to my house. And, sure enough, my friend phoned my house when I didn't expect it and spoke to my mum and asked her if the guy was there. You can imagine how stupid I felt when my mum told her that we didn't even know the guy. I couldn't really deny it, so I just had to explain to her that I was fantasizing too much and wanted her to think that my family knew this hot guy.
I've learnt my lesson from that and I've never told a lie like that again. Presently I was going to tell a friend at work that my mum and her sisters are triplets (even though they're not), but I thought again and decided not to, because he's become quite a close friend and there might come a day where he may meet my family (maybe at me and my partner's wedding or something) and find out that I had made up a silly lie like that. It would be cool to have someone believe that I am closely related to triplets but it's not worth lying about.
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FleaOfTheChill
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I never thought about it like that before. I grew up in an abusive household and I did get decent at lying as a form of self preservation/survival. In that way, yeah, I'm a great liar. I learned it young, and can fall back into it easy enough. It's not a thing I'm proud of either. It's an old school coping skill turned dysfunction or sh***y. That's how I've thought of it...not so much as lying,but saving my own skin and having it go against my grain, so to speak. It has caused me cognitive dissonance before.
The flip side though is I tend to be brutally honest by default, and I've worked to temper my speech, so I'm not blurting out things that could be hurtful or offensive to others. I mess up a lot, but I try.
I'm a walking contradiction more than I'd like to be. If I'm being completely honest, I'm a better liar than I'd like to be. Meh, I say.
funeralxempire
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I'm capable of lying and sometimes even competent at it. I don't often do it though since usually I only realize it was an appropriate course of action after the opportunity has passed.
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The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now." —Former U.S. Airman (Air Force) Aaron Bushnell
I was too good at it for a while. These days, I try to be as truthful as the situation calls for (eg, I'll spare your feelings if your hair looks terrible, but I won't "agree with you" if I don't agree usually.)
Growing up, I learned to lie. My moral beliefs differ from those held by my parents. I found it easier if they didn't know some things, and were allowed to believe what made them happier to believe about other things. I did the same with pretty much everyone. "Oh, this is what you would prefer the reality of the situation to be? Great, because that's EXACTLY what it is." I got pretty good at it as a survival strategy in a place where it wasn't safe to be too different.
By my late teens and early twenties, I was leading multiple lives. My parents knew one "me", the people at school (later work) knew a different person, my girlfriend knew yet another person, etc. I lied to manipulate both situations and people. I did a lot of things I'm not proud of in those years.
That's the main reason I'm usually "painfully honest" with people I care about now. The people I care about, I will tell everything. Even if there's no reason for them to know, even if they don't care, it's like a compulsion. I have a strong aversion to anything that feels like a "double life" sort of situation. I don't want to go down that road again, as I didn't like the person I became.
I guess it depends on the type of lie. It's easier for me to do white lies because there usually isn't much moral responsibility attached to them. Non-white lies that are loaded with moral responsibility are way harder to pull off because my conscience gets the better of me. I also prefer to maintain trust in my relationships; it makes me feel better knowing the other person knows I'm trust-worthy. Being a good liar requires good social skill, which comes from experience in the field--which I am sorely lacking lol.
I should add that sometimes I don't even feel like 'white lies' are worth the trouble. As an example, instead of using a cliched excuse for missing a social event, I might just tell the person that I didn't feel like leaving my comfort zone and not to take it personally. I would feel uncomfortable using an excuse like "I was sick", unless I really was sick.
Also, maybe instead of "white" and "black" lies, we could use more inclusive terms, such as "clean" and "dirty"?
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Autistic (self-identified)
Open source, free software, and open knowledge geek
GoLang, Python, & SysAdmin aspirant
RPG enthusiast
Has OCD, social anxiety, CPTSD
Chances I'd be accuse of lying due to memory issues and struggling with words than any attempt of deceiving.
I totally get this. I have similar memory issues and also struggle with spoken words. If I am in a situation in which I have reason to suspect that my honesty is (or could be) questioned, I will get distracted by this and stutter, stammer, and slur even more. People have a tendency to interpret stuttering, stammering, and slurring speech as a sign of dishonesty, because it comes across like the speaker is trying to think of lie on the spot.
_________________
Autistic (self-identified)
Open source, free software, and open knowledge geek
GoLang, Python, & SysAdmin aspirant
RPG enthusiast
Has OCD, social anxiety, CPTSD
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