Has lying become more frequent and socially acceptable over the past several years?

[Lochton]

I've noticed that people in general tell more lies than they used to compared to several years ago. I'm not talking about little white lies that don't really hurt anybody, I'm talking about lies they tell for their own personal benefit, and that come at the expense of myself or others. And these are usually lies that they know they are almost guaranteed to get caught in eventually.

Then, when I do catch them and ask them why they lied, instead of apologizing for lying, they often get upset at me for having the audacity to bring up the fact that they lied. Either that, or they'll claim they never lied even though I caught them red-handed.

I've noticed this with a broad spectrum of people: people I'm close to, people who I'm not so close to, people I know from various aspects of life, etc.

For anyone who might ask why I'm still acquaintanced with these people: 1. with some people, it's not very practical to cut them out of your life, and 2. I have cut out the ones that I could. I really don't want the discussion to be about that.

I just want to know what your experiences with liars have been like over the past several years compared to before that. I'm curious as to whether it's just me that has experienced this or if this is a general trend in society.


TL;DR Have you noticed people in general telling more lies and also being more bold/unapologetic with their lies?

Yes, over the past decades, it has become more normal due to a broad selection of events and outcomes, such as profession, education, heritage, etc.

[Daedius]

Lying has been a human trait since the dawn of time... social media has just brought more exposure to the negative side of humans. Although said media has brought to head the ego of many people.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

A lie is more purposely not telling the truth. I think that really is about at the same levels as ever. What I do think has exploded is people believing they are telling the truth when they are in fact wrong as fuck. With so much information at people's finger tips the amount of false information is just as high.

[PC2]

It seems you just surrounded yourself with assholes for some reason, my friend

That's what I was thinking too. Most people I've come across in life are just normal honest people. While some people happen to be surrounded by cheaters and liars that is not an excuse to become jaded about humanity and it doesn't mean society is morally decaying. It seems people are just very biased towards pessimistic thinking and uncharitable interpretations of other people.

[Kathandira]

I've noticed that people in general tell more lies than they used to compared to several years ago. I'm not talking about little white lies that don't really hurt anybody, I'm talking about lies they tell for their own personal benefit, and that come at the expense of myself or others. And these are usually lies that they know they are almost guaranteed to get caught in eventually.

Then, when I do catch them and ask them why they lied, instead of apologizing for lying, they often get upset at me for having the audacity to bring up the fact that they lied. Either that, or they'll claim they never lied even though I caught them red-handed.

I've noticed this with a broad spectrum of people: people I'm close to, people who I'm not so close to, people I know from various aspects of life, etc.

For anyone who might ask why I'm still acquaintanced with these people: 1. with some people, it's not very practical to cut them out of your life, and 2. I have cut out the ones that I could. I really don't want the discussion to be about that.

I just want to know what your experiences with liars have been like over the past several years compared to before that. I'm curious as to whether it's just me that has experienced this or if this is a general trend in society.


TL;DR Have you noticed people in general telling more lies and also being more bold/unapologetic with their lies?

Are you referring to people on the internet? If so, yeah sure. Anonymous people on the internet have nothing to fear about lying or making things up. Even if called out for it, there is no real consequence. Even if you are blacklisted in a community, you can just make a new account, and be someone completely different.

[Shadowferal]

. Even if you are blacklisted in a community, you can just make a new account, and be someone completely different.

No.
No difference. That person is still the same shit.
And gods forbid when/if that person becomes publicly known.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Social Media was a mistake.

It gave the village idiot a platform, and stupidity is contagious. Now we live in a world where people believe what they see in their Facebook/Twitter feed over science.

Post-facts world indeed.

[unfilteredJW]

Sometimes people just call others liars out of personal convenience, because they can't handle the truth... happens a lot around these parts too.

This is by far the best part of this thread.

[Levelfive]

This is by far the best part of this thread.

That there is the truth.

[Progenitor Aquarius]

People aren’t able to lie to me because I usually feel when they do. I just have this intuitive thought where I know people are lying. I found out that confronting them leads to an argument which is not recommended to do. It will consume the energy and time. What I do is just do nothing. Occasionally you can talk with them about the weather and avoid them as much as possible.

[Graeham]

Social Media was a mistake.

It gave the village idiot a platform, and stupidity is contagious. Now we live in a world where people believe what they see in their Facebook/Twitter feed over science.

Post-facts world indeed.

...and yet science is in itself constantly evolving and is often at the mercy of conflicts of interest. Asbestos used to be 'harmless'. Cigarettes were encouraged and recommended by many doctors and other experts. Blind faith in science with zero critical thinking is just as bad as denying any and all science put on the table.

I agree that social media is a mistake, though that's mostly because of the extremists on both ends of the spectrum - not the people in the middle.

[Jessicka]

Just take a look at what would happen if a politician’s infidelity was caught over the years.

10 years ago it would have cost them their immediate job. 20 years ago it would cost their career. 30 years ago it’d have brought down a government. Today they’d be crying about cancel culture.

Standards of integrity seem almost flipped on their head.

[CptEgo]

Donald Trump has made it trendy to be full of shit

[Levelfive]

...and yet science is in itself constantly evolving and is often at the mercy of conflicts of interest. Asbestos used to be 'harmless'. Cigarettes were encouraged and recommended by many doctors and other experts. Blind faith in science with zero critical thinking is just as bad as denying any and all science put on the table.

I agree that social media is a mistake, though that's mostly because of the extremists on both ends of the spectrum - not the people in the middle.

It's not one or the other. You don't have to have blind faith in science to understand that science operates on the best available data at the time, subject to revision, and updated in response to new data. That's not a knock on science--that's exactly how it should work. Most supposed "conflicts of interest" you mention come from industry and industry scientists with a financial motive to lie, and they have somehow managed to convince people that it's university / research scientists who have an agenda.

- - - Updated - - -

Donald Trump has made it trendy to be full of shit

Yeah, there's absolutely no question that there's a miasma of "alternative truthism" hanging over the country where it's become a sign of "strength" to dismiss reality altogether, thanks to Trump, his evil henchmen, and Trump tv, with a smidge of Putin propaganda tactics thrown in.

[Krakan]

I don't think lying has...but pretending we can't see or recognize differences then making the topics forbidden to debate or talk about has.

[Orby]

ITs not so much as lying and knowing they are lying but its people believing it as truth because of the amount misinformation out there that's so easily acceptable and easily consumed by those that want to believe it.

Also see signature :P

[Shadowferal]

The concept of truthiness has emerged as a major subject of discussion surrounding U.S. politics during the late 20th and early 21st centuries because of the perception among some observers of a rise in propaganda and a growing hostility toward factual reporting and fact-based discussion.

American television comedian Stephen Colbert coined the term truthiness in this meaning as the subject of a segment called "The Wørd" during the pilot episode of his political satire program The Colbert Report on October 17, 2005. By using this as part of his routine, Colbert satirized the misuse of appeal to emotion and "gut feeling" as a rhetorical device in contemporaneous socio-political discourse.

Within a few months of its introduction by Colbert, truthiness was discussed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the Associated Press, Editor & Publisher, Salon, The Huffington Post, Chicago Reader, CNET, and on ABC's Nightline, CBS's 60 Minutes, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The February 13, 2006 issue of Newsweek featured an article on The Colbert Report titled "The Truthiness Teller", recounting the career of the word truthiness since its popularization by Colbert.

Colbert refreshed "truthiness" in an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on July 18, 2016, using the neologism "Trumpiness" regarding statements made by Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.

According to Colbert, while truthiness refers to statements that feel true but are actually false, "Trumpiness" does not even have to feel true, much less be true. As evidence that Trump's remarks exhibit this quality, he cited a Washington Post column stating that many Trump supporters did not believe his "wildest promises" but supported him anyway.

[Biglog]

What I've seen is an increased level of people and a lot of on the Internet that do short meme-length lies. The structure of the lying is consistent. It's make a false claim that's either entirely untrue or at best highly exaggerated, followed by either A) a comment seeking agreement with the lie (farming "likes"), or B) using the lie to attack enemies.

Ex A. Frogs are starting wildfires, don't you think that frogs suck? Like if you agree.
Ex B. Frogs are starting wildfires, we should all hate frogs.

A third permutation on that is adding in fear mongering, for version C of Lying 101:

Frogs are starting wildfires, and if we don't stop them by eliminating forests they are going to kill us all.

It's rooted in the alt-right and Twitter/Reddit/YT trolls of the world that over the past few years have kind of programmed a lot of people to behave this way. The reason those outlets did it was because it makes it more appealing and consumable for the public to push a bad agenda by stretching the truth. People won't support things like locking kids in cages normally. But if you lie, stretch the truth, lie more through fear mongering that the kids are going to grow up to be murderers and rapists, you can eventually convince some more malleable people to agree. They realized this and used it to their advantage for ratings and likes. But it has filtered down and the people listening to those same lies day after day have started using the same methods in their day to day behavior I've noticed.

Most people will understand frogs aren't starting wildfires, the person is lying. But nowadays there are 10-20% of people out there that will say, how do you know, we don't know what the frogs are up to, I never trusted them. They'll find a photoshopped picture of a frog with a match in the woods or something. And when they find someone else that agrees with their nonsense, it becomes a tinfoil hat frog hating club. AKA Parler.

[Collegeguy]

People have lied forever. Yellow Journalism was profitable before the internet existed. The fake Ty Cobb autobiography was successful enough to scar most popular culture and history. The fabulist journalist penned the baseball player as a murderer and racist with violent character. Difference now is that technology makes debunking myths easier, but can also make lies perpetuate more prominently.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Except it's not a lie you fucking retard, conservatives have always been the ones that believe that teaching children discipline is important and the far lefties literally don't. How fucking dumb are you?

And yet the lying corrupt assholes who have been taught to lie, cheat and steal their way to the top are almost all right wingers. Do you even pay attention to reality?

I realize you have a hate boner for the left the size of South America dude, we ALL know you have a massive hate boner for the left, but all too often it makes you say dumb shit like this. You think that because the left is against beating children that they don't discipline them? How fucking stupid do you have to be to think that's effective? No, the left is very much into discipline, even moreso than the right. Truth, honesty, hard work, dedication, those are all things taught in left wing circles. Lie, cheat, steal, fib, snatch, scam, those are the things I see in right wing circles.

But I do like how reality for you always "adjusts" to fit whatever thread you need to shit on lefties in. You could say right wingers are chads who were taught the best way to take advantage of business in the real world and lefties are just little pansies who scrape by, and not even bat an eyelash at how much of a hypocrite it would make you.