I am not a believer in honesty. Honesty is often rude and self-destructive. I am a believer in discretion, which is a broader principle that encompasses honesty. Technically, not telling a lie is all you need to be honest. But I believe in not telling the truth either. A person whould only make statements whose truth can be determined.
Usually this is pretty easy. If two people are collaborating then they might have no reason to lie to eachother, in which case, the fact that one of them says something at all is already pretty good evidence to verify that the statement is true.
Other way is interestingly enough to say some complete nonsense that is obviously not true. Technically it's truth value can be verified immediately; it just isn't true. A lot of times you'll see people referring to this scenario using technical jargon: namely, they'll refer to it as a "joke" or sometimes as "sarcasm" or "irony".
What is REALLY hard though is practicing disgretion in cases where the other person has no reason to believe anything you say. Such as if you are talking yourself up or trying to get out of trouble. Everybody wants to be percieved in a good light, regardless of if they deserve it. And nobody wants to be in trouble, regardless of if they deserve it.
If you say "I deserve praise", or "I don't deserve to be in trouble", nobody will ever believe you. But they CAN still form conclusions about you. The key to discretion is to simply skip the intermediate steps and say the conclusion directly. "I want praise." "I don't want any trouble." If you want somebody to know that about you, that's how you do it. No need to make unverifiable statements about how deserving you are of those things.
Usually this is pretty easy. If two people are collaborating then they might have no reason to lie to eachother, in which case, the fact that one of them says something at all is already pretty good evidence to verify that the statement is true.
Other way is interestingly enough to say some complete nonsense that is obviously not true. Technically it's truth value can be verified immediately; it just isn't true. A lot of times you'll see people referring to this scenario using technical jargon: namely, they'll refer to it as a "joke" or sometimes as "sarcasm" or "irony".
What is REALLY hard though is practicing disgretion in cases where the other person has no reason to believe anything you say. Such as if you are talking yourself up or trying to get out of trouble. Everybody wants to be percieved in a good light, regardless of if they deserve it. And nobody wants to be in trouble, regardless of if they deserve it.
If you say "I deserve praise", or "I don't deserve to be in trouble", nobody will ever believe you. But they CAN still form conclusions about you. The key to discretion is to simply skip the intermediate steps and say the conclusion directly. "I want praise." "I don't want any trouble." If you want somebody to know that about you, that's how you do it. No need to make unverifiable statements about how deserving you are of those things.
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