You Deceitful Son Of A...

What is deception, and what does it mean to deceive someone? Deception is defined as the act of leading someone to believe something, or acting in a way that would lead someone to believe something when you don’t believe it yourself.

So if you tell a half truth are you being deceptive? What about with intentionally withholding information? What if you create a situation where someone would believe one thing, when the truth is actually contrary? Where is the line between innocence and guilt? Well there is one question you can ask yourself to see if you are being deceptive or not.

If you have nothing to conceal, why NOT tell the whole truth?

One of the leading reasons that people lie is because they have something they do not want to share with someone else for one reason or another. That is when they act differently to keep that secret. It is evident that deception is not something you can pin down into a nice neat box. But there is a good reason for us to view it in this light. People tend to look at lying in very narrow and technical terms – such as someone forthrightly telling you a fallacy. When it is accepted as such, it gives people the opportunity to take advantage of what most don’t consider deception. In fact, deception usually lies in what is left unsaid.

But, on the converse, when we find that our lover has been acting in a way that will arouse our suspicions, our definition of what is deceptive suddenly becomes more inclusive. It is a matter of hypocrisy; when I leave out important bits of information, I’m not misleading you, but when you do it, you are deceiving me.

This is why a broad definition of deception is more constructive than a narrow stance on the matter. A broad definition of deception simply promotes more honesty.

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I didn't leave anything out... So leave me a comment.

-Drew Bryant