Response essay #5 of The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericson

(This essay by Ms. Ericson was bitter-sweet in that when you find yourself wanting to cheer you're let down by her... if you ever read The Ways We Lie you will understand what I mean. You will get the gist of it from my response.)

In her essay The Ways We Lie Stephanie Ericson begins by giving different scenarios of how people may lie. She cited two definitions for the word lie from the Webster’s dictionary. From there, she laid out her implications from them and constructed several different ways that people might lie. She asserts that all people lie. Ms. Ericsson mentioned the lies that are hardly disputed like the infamous “white lie” and the “out-and-out-lie.”However, she includes deceptions that are unsuspecting, easily disguised or flat out ignored.

I believe Ms. Ericsson had two reasons for writing her essay- to inform and to entertain. I was provoked to think about the things she said, yet I did not get the impression that she had any intention to change, nor did she give the impression that she expected anyone else to. Her essay was rife with subjective opinion. I thought that with each one of her types of lies she was on the right track, but when she illustrated a few of her points I was left disappointed. In regards to the lie by Omission, she said that it involves “telling most of the truth minus one or two key facts whose absence changes the story completely.” She then chooses to illustrate it by telling of a rabbinical legend that in her mind discounts the truth of the Bible. With the lie Ignoring the Plain Facts she expresses her distrust for the Roman Catholic Church. I found it hard to follow her motives. I have heard and read many stories that have a semblance to certain accounts in the Bible such as Gilgamesh, the story of Remus and Romulus, the story of Turtle Mt. to name a few, yet I do not judge the source of my faith by legends. The fact that she chose to use that illustration gives the reader a glimpse into her disdain for the bible. I was personally offended because she, hedged on one legend, condemned the Bible as a lie. The essay was interesting reading and I would hope that, if anything, her readers would read it with the intent to improve themselves.