Wendy Rima

College Composition II

Telescoping Essay

2/18/11

If Lying Was Easy, They’d Call It the Truth

On page 54 of Steven Johnson’s book, Everything Bad Is Good for You, he references

something he calls telescoping. It is the idea that there is a sequence of small, unnoticed things

that make up a seemingly simple task. His example of this is gaming, but there are many other

things in our lives that this applies to. I would like to focus on something that is done, for many

people, on such a regular basis that its complexities are almost always overlooked; the not so

simple act of telling a good lie. If you’re truly good at it, lying is a complex process with many

aspects to consider. You have to think about why you’re lying, what the positive and negative

side effects will be, and, of course, what your actual lie will be.

To make sure you are lying effectively, the first thing you need to consider is why you

are lying in the first place. If you’re going to lie, you should have a legit reason to do it. Quite

frequently, people will get caught up in the thrill of telling a lie, and they really won’t have a

reason for doing it. The adrenaline and excitement of lying can be rather addicting, but you

have to learn to only use it when necessary. There are many situations that constitute for a

good lie: you’re protecting something personal that you don’t want people to know, you’re

trying to avoid insulting someone, you’re covering up a mistake that cannot otherwise be
reconciled, or you’re protecting someone or something you care about. Whenever you face a

situation that you feel may require a lie, you have to consider these pre-approved instances to

determine if, in your situation, it is absolutely necessary. Any situations where you’re just trying

to improve your reputation or make yourself look cool should be avoided. If there isn’t a solid

reason behind your lie, you shouldn’t be telling it.

If you decide that you are in a situation worthy of a lie, you need to consider the positive

and negative side effects to determine how bad your fall-out will be. Even in a legit or

honorable situation, you may have factors that make the costs outweigh the benefits. For

example, you may be questioned by one of your peers about something embarrassing you did

last weekend. According to the rule book, this would be a situation that constitutes a lie,

because you are protecting personal information. But in this particular situation the costs will

most likely outweigh the benefits. In most cases, lying isn’t the tidy friend that comes to stay

with you for a weekend that you hardly notice, figuratively speaking of course. It’s the friend

that comes to stay and leaves a lot of damage and mess that you will have to deal with later. In

this case, the brief moment of reliving some embarrassment that would come after telling the

truth, would be easier than having to cover for your lie in the future.

Almost every lie comes with at least some sort of negative side effects, so even if you do

decide that the lie is worth it, you have to have a game plan for the future. A skilled liar should

basically have a catalogue of all of their lies in their head, in order to prevent themselves from

saying or doing something in the future that will contradict their lie. For many instances, the

first lie will initiate a series of smaller follow-up lies at some point in the future to maintain the
original lie. For instance, you lie to a friend and tell them you like their new haircut, even

though you think it makes them look ridiculous. Eventually their hair will grow back, you’ll both

forget about the haircut from hell, and you spared him or her some hurt feelings in the process.

Seems simple right? Well in reality, you’ll have to keep this in your mental “lie catalogue.” If

another one of your peers asks you what you think of your friends hair, you will have to be

quick to lie and say you like it to prevent the truth from getting back to your friend. Or, if nine

months down the road your friend asks if they should cut their hair like that again, you’ll have

to think of a new lie to tell them why they shouldn’t, even though you loved it before. Usually

lies are followed up by other lies, so if you want the bonuses of lying, you’ll have to learn the

techniques for dealing with the penalties.

Last but not least, when you have finally decided that a lie would be beneficial to you

and your situation, you have to choose what your lie will be. So many people fall victim to

choosing a bad lie. A lie should be as realistic as possible; something that passes as perfectly

ordinary with the only difference being that it is in your favor. Let’s look at the classic example

of lying about why you don’t have your homework done. In this situation you will want to pick

something perfectly believable, but something that your teacher can sympathize with. Things

like my printer wasn’t working, it wouldn’t save so the whole thing got deleted, and I did the

assignment for tomorrow instead of today would all work. The reason for this is that they are all

common things that actually happen to students all the time or that have happened to teachers

themselves. Lies like my dog ate it or it randomly combusted aren’t realistic and they will end

up being a waste of your time. Another thing to consider when choosing your lie is that you

want to involve as few people as possible. The more people you have involved, the harder it will
be to keep your lie under control. You should always pick the simplest and most isolated lie for

your situation.

When it comes down to it, lying is a perfect example of telescoping. Something that

many consider just words coming out of cunning people’s mouths is actually a long, weighed

process when done correctly. Why you’re lying in the first place, the side effects of the lie, and

the lie itself all have to be taken into consideration. The ability to skillfully deceive people from

reality is not naturally given to many, and it takes a little bit more than most people realize to

create a lie that will stick.