Cross my fingers – The history of lying, misrepresentation and deceit

In all cultures, lying is strongly reprehensible. And yet, lying, dishonesty, scheming, counterfeiting

and swindling are part of human nature. Believe it or not: man lies every single day.

The more opportunities and freedom to communicate we have, the more we swindle. The data

network is the modern spiderweb of lies; it pumps out spam ranging from Nigerian investment tips

to “free” holiday offers. How many times have they told you that the manager is “in a meeting” or

that the customer service has promised to “get back to you”? How many tax forms or how many

insurance claims have been filed without misrepresentation? How many explanations does a ticket

inspector or a traffic police hear daily? How many renovators shout out to the world: the rot damage

was my fault! Even though lying is morally reprehensible, the book depicts our capacity to handle

the truth. After all, could it be that it might be easier to accept a nice story than the bare truth.

INTRODUCTION: LYING IS OUR SECOND NATURE

Everyone who claims to be honest is likely to be a liar.

Man is a gregarious animal that constantly plots and schemes. He makes alliances and breaks his promises.

This chapter gets you tangled with words and ambiguous expressions that hide the truth.

In this chapter the reader is introduced to imagery figures that are not true. Having an affect means controlling imagery perceptions.

What separates man from other animals is his ability to use his imagination. If we can’t get enough knowledge, we start to gossip.

The problem in a flock of people is the free riders who use other people without giving anything in return.

If someone says nice things about you, you usually take it as a fact.

The unpleasant characteristics in us are clearly lies.

The epilogue hands down the punishment for having lied and claims our sins forgiven: the community would not work if we couldn’t pretend.