Lying (Rhetoric)

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Dangers of lying

How to lie

Lie about something that no one will object to.

Example: Michael Lewis plays up his protagonists, he doesn't tear them down. One case where he ran into trouble was when talking about Burry getting redemptions from Greenblatt; Greenblatt called out Lewis on inaccuracies.

Take something true and exaggerate it

Examples

  • Michael Lewis
    • Get that quote from someone who says, "He never lies, he just exaggerates."
  • L. Ron Hubbard
    • Examples:
      • 2011.12.21 - Blog - Astounding Science Fiction March 1950 – Intro to Dianetics by John W. Campbell Jr.
        • "In a later taped lecture of 18 October 1958, entitled The Story of Dianetics and Scientology, Hubbard lies and says that he had “sold a movie – Dive Bomber” right at the beginning of the War for 10,000 dollars, which he put in a safe deposit box. He also said his movie starred Wallace Beery. There was a movie called Dive Bomber, but it was from a story by Frank Wead – screenplay by Wead and Buckner. It starred Errol Flynn, not Wallace Beery. Apparently, the Errol Flynn archives do contain a reference to Hubbard being paid a small amount simply for the use of the title, which is not how Hubbard is spinning it – as you can see. At any rate, Dive Bomber was a propaganda film, designed to drum up support for World War II, and it turned out to be one of Warner’s biggest hits of 1941, generating a profit in excess of $1 million. Hubbard invents that convoluted explanation to cover how he had the money to buy a yacht basically. In fact, recent evidence shows that Hubbard was only paid $250, and it was, again, just for the use of the title."

      • https://scicrit.wordpress.com/2014/10/27/dianetics-as-it-first-appeared-in-astounding-science-fiction/

When to lie