Have you found yourself the centre of a wondrous affair and all that you thought was wonderful had to happen to you? Only that it was a lie, a big fat one. You find out that your dear Charly a cool, guy who swore that he was single was a married man who had four legitimate children. Lies are untruth. They are statements made by somebody knowing that they aren’t true. Lies have been told throughout humanity. Depending on your ethos, philosophy or disposition, you are either to like telling lies or hate even abhour them. Whatever you do, we know that lies have far reaching consequences. The ugly part is that most people are disappointed in the lies told by others than the ones they tell. Many would swear that they would never lie, yet there are those moments that they are caught off guard or confronted with the truth.
What is ability? It is defined as the fact that somebody or something is able to do something. It is a level of skill or intelligence.
Hence ‘Liebility’ is the skill of telling lies effortlessly and habitually. Chei! No be small thing.
Anyway, whether people are liars or are merely joking, yes there’s that too, it’s important to acknowledge why people lie; at least from my perspective, why they are incurable, chronic and pathological liars. Here are the nuances that I find incredibly reliable in categorizing lies people are telling. This I believe could help understanding and even make forgiveness of lies seem feasible. First of all, I’d like to categorize lies into two broad groups namely, white or harmless and dangerous and harmful lies.
What are white lies? Those are defined as ‘harmless or small lie, especially one that you tell to avoid hurting somebody.’
What are harmful lies: Clearly, those lies ‘that you tell in order to hurt somebody’ are harmful or dangerous lies. These lies cause a lot of problems to mankind. Many problems have emanated from these kinds of lies.
While all lies are statements conceived in order to deceive, derail or confuse other people I’m going to focus on harmful lies in this post. I’m likely to use examples from the Bible to elaborate my point. This is just for emphasis not for proselytizing as I’m churchless and religion free.
There are 5 M reasons why people lie, in my judgement and these include:
1. Malice: Yes, this is the ‘intention to harm or deprive in an illegal or immoral way. Desire to take pleasure in another’s misfortune.’ This is the wicked reason to lie, in my opinion. . People who employ this reason to lie are unrepentant. They don’t ever have remorse and they go for the jugular when offended. They make statements that are unfounded. I’ve had somebody lie against me so maliciously in my youth that till date I’ve not forgiven my secondary school alma mater. A thief wasn’t even shamed while I was deprived of integrity because of a malicious liar called Ogechi Maduagwu. God forbid. I never knew why I would still believe in God after that shameless event. Malicious liars are evil and the Devil is their father who is called the father of all lies. It’s not even a matter of age as malicious liars are even found among children and those are the worst. They are possessed by demons and may need exorcism if that would help. Some entities such as churches are founded by malicious liars. Hmmm...need I say more?
2. Magic: This is the ‘secret power of appearing to make impossible things happen by saying special words (here a lie) or doing special things.’ It is also the art of doing tricks that seem impossible in order to entertain people; it is also a special quality that somebody has that seems too wonderful to be real.’ You know in Nigeria that you warn children against tricksters. Those are people who tell them unfounded things in order to sway them one way or another. In my childhood, I was warned against Ndi Ibu Alhaji. Those were men who wove magic and got children, youth and women to part with money and even expensive jewellery. They came with stories of making people rich with magical promises of money doubling and such. And till date Nigerians fall prey to people who weave such glorious magic. Today, we just call them Yahoo Boys, or Yahoo Plus (and Minus) and One Chance. They tell stories of how it’s going down in Malaysia. How you invest one million naira and earn ten million pounds sterling in return all from the comfort of your house. Isn’t it magical how one grain of corn bears a cob of grains? So magical liars have been in heaven while their victims often land in hell. The newest of such magical liars have been the Japa People. Many families have lost income and even inheritance to deceitful people who promise them visa to the United States, Europe, Australia or Asia. Since many want to live abroad, magical liars have had a field day. These are also lies told to save face often without harmful or malicious or mischievous intent as with white lie or mercy lying.
3. Mischief: This means ‘harm or injury that is done to somebody or to their reputation.’ Mischief is also trouble making. People have gone forging names and certificates in order to deceive the general public. There are people who have in their adult lives had several identities. They have changed things up including the meaning of ‘maiden name’ which they now have termed a woman’s first name as a maiden and not her own surname before her marriage. This is like malicious lie. Only the person has told it without much thought for anything else but to deprive another with or without even gaining anything. Potiphar’s wife told this lie against Joseph for not having her way with him. You know he would have died in prison if he hadn’t been lucky with being able to interpret dreams. Fake news propagandists are huge on mischievous lies and sell like hurt cake. Celebrity gossip also falls into this category of peddling lies in order to gain popularity or even clout. Shenanigans are often mischievous lies.
4. Mercy: This means ‘a kind or forgiving attitude towards somebody that you have the power to harm or right to punish.’ When people lie this way, they are trying to get out of trouble. Sometimes, in order to avert a mad person’s outburst. In many other instances, subordinates use this stratagem in order to get out of trouble. When Abram was asked the relationship between him and Sarai, he called her his sister. This was a white lie but it was used to avert punishment or even death. The king forgave him for telling him a lie kand gave him gifts and asked him to leave in peace. There are other examples and you are welcome to think them up.
5. Mystery: Something that is difficult to understand or to explain. Mysterious liars want to be magical but many are compelled to be secretive. Many of them tare those caught up with all sorts of commitments from Godfathers, secret cults and other such evil. Women and some men lie about their real age. They want you to figure out and when they get their way, they forge certificates to captivate with their lie. Hair dyes are helping this category of liars. There are mysterious liars who just want to be seen as special. They weave lies that many would never knew weren’t true. An example is a lie surrounding somebody’s life or death. Some people claim to have lost relative or even friends that didn’t die but they would rather have the whole believe a lie. Whoever was unto such a lie and broadcast it, would be a mysterious liar, in my opinion no matter the reason for the lie.
It’s possible to find one person capable of telling all five forms of lies. It’s also possible that they have formed the bad habit of telling lies without giving much thought to it. This post helps to check what kind of lie (some)one is telling, when (some)one is lying and being aware.
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