The Truth About Lies!
D. E. Benet
Sometimes the choice of the subject makes the going
heavy in the classroom. The recent socio-cultural and political events brought
to the classroom a kind of exigency that catalysed a debate over the post-truth
society. On that droll day, the millennials wanted to know their living status
and took time to pose questions.
They had these two questions, one existential and the
other moral - “Is it true that you all spoke truth, nothing but truth once and
is telling lies a talent or sin?” For a while, we analysed the cold hard data
available and came to the conclusion that our lives are awash with lies, after
all.
Fighting hard to snap judge anyone, we arrived at a
list of typical liars — innocuous, genial, congenital, compulsive, malicious,
pernicious and unconscionable. Then we found out that the word ‘liar’ could be
used after any number of adjectives. We all agreed there is none called an
infallible liar, and commiseration for the liars is not a misplaced emotion.
The mundane part of it was the spirited discussion on
distinction between cock-and bull story and shaggy-dog story. Shallow
understanding makes such sessions light and bearable, but attempting deeper
understanding can be enervating.
Soporific effect
Soon, things got a wee bit personal. A student from the
back row shot this first question, “What happened when you told your first big
lie, sir?” I quipped, “The crows certainly didn’t caw, betraying me. Nor did I
go without food.”
Not at all amused, he asked further: “Don’t you think
that you have spent your entire life teaching lies?” which of course had a
Nietzschean ring to it. Being a teacher of English literature, I always had
this misgiving that I was teaching them mostly fictitious stories, but
convinced myself that they were all morally engaging and uplifting stories. The
truth of the matter is, as Plato avers, that all poets (read creative writers)
are liars. Miffed, I told him, “Look at the politicians to hardcore criminals,
they all lie under oath. Do we make an issue of it?”
Absolutely unimpressed, another student asked, “Are you
comfortable with the idea that when you open your mouth, truth is the first
casualty?” That set me thinking and I responded in a measured tone, “It is only
a figment of your imagination. The truth about such fiction or lie is it has a
telling effect upon people.”
I knew it was a white lie and my sinking feeling
continued. Changing tack, I gave a grand exposition on the truth about lies. I
didn’t spare Joseph Goebbels who developed lying into an art and institution
and ended up saying how a parrhesiastes had the moral obligation to speak truth
alone even at the point of death. As it turned out, talking about spinning a
yarn or weaving a tale had a soporific effect on the students at the fag end of
the day.
Suddenly, a half-awake student with ungovernable rage
said, “It makes me very angry with everyone and everything in the world.”
Pressed on, he said awesomely, “The world is full of bold liars and bald lies.
Remember, the truth will out.” His accusatory gestures gave me the impression
that I was the chief among a nasty breed of blatant liars, spending an entire
career espousing lies. Mortified, I decided that one day I would write my
autobiography with the title My Experiments with Lie(s).
- The writer teaches English at National College
(Autonomous), Tiruchi
- From Today’s ‘The Hindu’ Supplement, EDGE
No comments:
Post a Comment