We distrust someone using their SKILL and intelligence to deceive us—perhaps because it further obscures the truth, because we feel that if they can outwit us like that, the world suddenly becomes smoke and mirrors and we don’t know what side we should be fighting for.
If someone tells a lie, that keeps the game simple—no word play, no clever tricks that might have to be reasoned past, producing an existential angst that there may be nothing beyond the spin. With a lie, well, it can be easily falsified, and it can even be culturally accepted—because, hey, we all say we didn’t eat two cookies when everyone had one or wanted one but didn’t get it in time. But we don’t all try to confuse people and make them THINK—especially in settings where it’s socially agreed we don’t/shouldn’t have to.
We distrust someone using their SKILL and intelligence to deceive us—perhaps because it further obscures the truth, because we feel that if they can outwit us like that, the world suddenly becomes smoke and mirrors and we don’t know what side we should be fighting for.
If someone tells a lie, that keeps the game simple—no word play, no clever tricks that might have to be reasoned past, producing an existential angst that there may be nothing beyond the spin. With a lie, well, it can be easily falsified, and it can even be culturally accepted—because, hey, we all say we didn’t eat two cookies when everyone had one or wanted one but didn’t get it in time. But we don’t all try to confuse people and make them THINK—especially in settings where it’s socially agreed we don’t/shouldn’t have to.