I hate being lied to, and I hate(d) to lie. Lies are unfair, betrayal hurts, and imposing false truth is misleading and tyrannical. Lying is hard too. It’s essentially creating a separate reality you need to maintain and nurture as long as you’d like to keep up the lies. We need to be responsible for our words, and taking the responsibility of a made-up reality is troublesome at the least. Rather than lying, I prefer keeping unpleasant truths for myself and just stay quiet. My memory capacity is a bit too inferior to set up an elaborate scheme, and I was too liquid hearted not to be affected by the cognitive dissonance. It takes an unshakeable heart to lie without blinking, no? But growing up, I did learn to lie. I’m not so bad at it too, I think, my face and acting rarely betray me. I still don’t want to lie by default, but the mental backlash of lying isn’t as strong as it used to be. I try to strictly only lie when it’s harmless but never have I thought of my lies to be.. white?
What exactly is a white lie? A good lie? Is there such a thing? You see, I said that I try to keep my lies harmless, but how much do I know about anything? What do I know about what’s best or harmful for others? If lying or not lying will have a consequence on others, why do I decide upon their fate (ceilah) by myself? If a white lie is a good lie, isn’t it actually just good for the liar’s interest?
I read this manga called Usotoki Rhetoric. The MC is a living lie detector. When she was little, she just pointed those lies out and it brought her and everyone a lot of trouble to the point that it forced her to move out of her town. Long story short, she became a detective assistant, but it turned out that none of the cases was solved simply by laying the truth bare. This is where the detective comes in. He’s very perceptive, empathetic, and smart. He connects the dots provided by our lie detector MC and elegantly solves the cases. You’ll see lies in every form here as it relates heavily with the premise. This manga also shows me what white lie might be and why people do that.
That being said, lies are lies. Justifying a lie saying that it’s white doesn’t erase the immoral nature of the act. However, behind a lie, there lies not just the truth, but also the reason why people lie. But what gives? Unlike the.. colORFUL LIES(??), white lie is told because as far as the liar knew, the consequence of telling the truth might be much worse for whomever they’re concerned about. Selfless much? But I’m a pragmatist. I believe that selfless acts, things said to be done for the sake of others, are actually selfish. Everything, even the most altruistic things, can be rooted down to the well-being of oneself. Be it done with the best intention, white lie still is a convoluted tool. And what if they’re wrong? What if the false truth’s not better for the counterpart? Well, knowing the truth IS a power that one can abuse. Which truth shall be known by others is up to them. Not because they have the right, but just because they have the choice, and nobody knew better (hence the tyranny in lies IMO).
So where’s the line? There’s no line. Because again, white lie is just a regular lie. Knowing that you’re being lied to would hurt either way, and the liar should own up to that consequence instead of insisting that YO I DID THIS FOR U THO. One small difference, white liar’s intention might be easier to stomach, just might be. If I learned anything from Usotoki Rethoric, it’s that we shouldn’t bastardize anyone only for the fact that they lie. Yet. Let them explain themselves/consider their situation first. If you want to, that is. How the problem should be resolved/whether the liar is forgiven/whether people can go on interact like before the lying shmlying began are completely up to the people involved. But what if they also lie about their intention? Pusing ya haha. Minta diazab banget itu mah tukang boongnya, serahkan saja pada yang di atas.
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Written for a writing challenge with Jennie Yuwono
