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margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #D63716; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#D63716"><b>We control what<br />you think with</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Language" title="Language"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Language</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#FFFFFF;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Language" title="Category:Language"><img alt="Icon language.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/2/2c/Icon_language.svg/100px-Icon_language.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/2/2c/Icon_language.svg/150px-Icon_language.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/2/2c/Icon_language.svg/200px-Icon_language.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#D63716; text-align:center;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Language" title="Category:Language"><font color="white">Said and done</font></a></b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#FFFFFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Novlangue" title="Novlangue">Novlangue</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linguistic_discrimination" title="Linguistic discrimination">Linguistic discrimination</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_correctness" title="Political correctness">Political correctness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eponymous_laws" title="Eponymous laws">Eponymous laws</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/No_Cussing_Club" title="No Cussing Club">No Cussing Club</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mansplaining" title="Mansplaining">Mansplaining</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#D63716; text-align:center;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Jargon" title="Category:Jargon"><font color="white">Jargon, buzzwords, slogans</font></a></b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#FFFFFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Misandry" title="Misandry">Misandry</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anti-intellectualism" title="Anti-intellectualism">Anti-intellectualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manosphere_glossary" title="Manosphere glossary">Manosphere glossary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_glossary" title="Jehovah's Witnesses glossary">Jehovah's Witnesses glossary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Elitism" title="Elitism">Elitism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Buzzer" title="Buzzer">Buzzer</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Langnav" title="Template:Langnav">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Langnav" title="Template talk:Langnav">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Langnav&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—A quote with many variants that is falsely attributed to many (e.g. <a href="/wiki/Mark_Twain" title="Mark Twain">Mark Twain</a> and <a href="/wiki/Winston_Churchill" title="Winston Churchill">Winston Churchill</a>)<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span> Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—Chris Jami</cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—<a href="/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson" title="Thomas Jefferson">Thomas Jefferson</a>, 1785.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Deceit</b> is a term denoting the misrepresentation of the <a href="/wiki/Truth" title="Truth">truth</a>. </p><p>Deceit can be used for many purposes, some more innocent (such as what's known as a <i>white lie</i>), some more destructive. Lying, or explicit misrepresentation, is a subset of deceit. </p><p>Some forms of deceit may be unintentional or the result of a <a href="/wiki/Logical_fallacy" title="Logical fallacy">logical fallacy</a>, and don't <i>necessarily</i> mean the speaker intends to deceive (also see <a href="/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor" title="Hanlon's razor">Hanlon's razor</a>). </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Common_examples"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Common examples</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Grains_of_truth"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Grains of truth</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#Deceit_in_the_Bible"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Deceit in the Bible</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Common_examples">Common examples</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Deceit&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Common examples">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Deceit can take many forms: </p> <ul><li>Lie — the most basic form of deceit, where some <i>known false</i> information is divulged so as to mislead the audience on the chosen topic.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bullshit" title="Bullshit">Bullshit</a> — disregarding the distinction between truth and falsehood, saying or spreading anything in order to move the audience.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Affinity_fraud" title="Affinity fraud">Affinity fraud</a> — abuse of the trust of others because you are (or pretend to be) a member of the same socio-economic, religious, or ethnic group.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Burning_the_evidence" title="Burning the evidence">Burning the evidence</a> — attempting to secure plausible deniability by destroying possible trails of evidence that could, if left intact, allow potential investigators to correctly identify the true culprit.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Censorship" title="Censorship">Censorship</a> — silencing all dissenting viewpoints.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Confabulation" title="Confabulation">Confabulation</a> — promoting falsehoods while believing yourself to be truthful, largely due to a false memory.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Coverup" title="Coverup">Coverup</a> — trying to suppress evidence of one's misdeeds.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Equivocation" title="Equivocation">Equivocation</a> — abusing wordplay in a way that's not technically lying, but is trying to give an incorrect impression.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Red_herring" title="Red herring">Misdirection</a> — distracting or diverting from the issue at hand in order to avoid further conclusions to be drawn.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quote_mining" title="Quote mining">Quote mining</a> — presenting a real (but "hairdressed") quote, deliberately placed out of context and presented in a new or different context, so as to make it seem like it meant something else than was originally intended. This differs from making a "misquotation", as those are simply mistakenly attributed or phrased wrongly.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bullshit" title="Bullshit">Obfuscation</a> — nonsensical claptrap, or words without any particular connection to reality.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lying_by_omission" title="Lying by omission">Omission</a> — failing to report something that wasn't specifically asked for (yet perhaps cannot be asked for as it is an unknown unknown to other people), with the express intent to deceive others via manipulating their perception of the truth.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/One_single_proof" title="One single proof">One single proof</a> — claiming that without a specific key proof, the whole argument is invalid.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">Propaganda</a> — affect or control the perceptions and behavior of a population.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Revisionism" class="mw-redirect" title="Revisionism">Revisionism</a> — revising history to something it wasn't.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Willful_ignorance" title="Willful ignorance">Self-deception</a> — metaphorically (or literally...) sticking your fingers in your ears and going "Lalalala! I can't hear you!".</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Statistics" title="Statistics">Statistics</a> — sometimes statistics are used as a drunken man uses lampposts — for support rather than illumination.</li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Grains_of_truth">Grains of truth</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Deceit&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Grains of truth">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div role="note" class="hatnote">For more information, see: <a href="/wiki/Bait-and-switch" title="Bait-and-switch">Bait-and-switch</a></div> <p>Although deceit might come as a sort of <a href="/wiki/Fractal_wrongness" title="Fractal wrongness">fractal wrongness</a> (that is, containing very little to no truth at all), it can also come with a "grain of truth" within it. As a matter of fact, mixing truth with deceit is one of the most effective ways to cause people to accept the part that is deceit. This is especially the case when the deceiving actor introduces the audience to true information that makes them feel better-educated for having heard it. This can cause the listener to feel that they trust the speaker more than they otherwise would have, allowing the speaker a greater general presumption of good faith, which can be exploited by the speaker to deceive a sympathetic audience. <small>Now with that out of the way, may we interest you in RationalWiki brand <a href="/wiki/Nutritional_supplement" title="Nutritional supplement">supplements</a>?</small> </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Deceit_in_the_Bible">Deceit in the Bible</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Deceit&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Deceit in the Bible">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Perhaps the best known example can be found in <a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Annotated_Bible/Genesis#Genesis_Chapter_27" title="RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/Genesis">Genesis chapter 27</a>. <a href="/wiki/Isaac" title="Isaac">Isaac</a> is dying, and wants to bless his first born son Esau but needs some munchies first (it would be silly to bless someone on an empty stomach), but Esau's twin brother <a href="/wiki/Jacob" title="Jacob">Jacob</a> overhears, gives Isaac his needed munchies, and receives the blessing instead. Jacob is later renamed to "Israel" by God (<a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Annotated_Bible/Genesis#Genesis_32:28" title="RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/Genesis">Genesis 32:28</a>) and goes on to become the father of the <a href="/wiki/Twelve_Tribes" title="Twelve Tribes">Twelve Tribes</a> of <a href="/wiki/Israel" title="Israel">Israel</a> and ancestor of <a href="/wiki/Jesus_Christ" class="mw-redirect" title="Jesus Christ">Jesus Christ</a>. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Deceit&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="div-col columns column-count column-count-2" style="-moz-column-count: 2; -webkit-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Bait-and-switch" title="Bait-and-switch">Bait-and-switch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biblical_claims_of_divine_honesty" title="Biblical claims of divine honesty">Biblical claims of divine honesty</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biblical_contradictions" title="Biblical contradictions">Biblical contradictions</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crypto-politics" title="Crypto-politics">Crypto-politics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deepfake" title="Deepfake">Deepfake</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump">Donald Trump</a> — a case study in pathological lying<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4">[note 1]</a></sup></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Euphemism" title="Euphemism">Euphemism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fake_news" title="Fake news">Fake news</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fine_print" title="Fine print">Fine print</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historical_forgery" title="Historical forgery">Historical forgery</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hoax" title="Hoax">Hoax</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hypocrisy" title="Hypocrisy">Hypocrisy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Image_manipulation" title="Image manipulation">Image manipulation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intellectual_dishonesty" class="mw-redirect" title="Intellectual dishonesty">Intellectual dishonesty</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Iraq_War" title="Iraq War">Iraq War</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Logical_fallacy" title="Logical fallacy">Logical fallacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mainstream_media" title="Mainstream media">Mainstream media</a>, who frequently propagate jingoism and <a href="/wiki/War_on_Science" title="War on Science">science denialism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pious_fraud" title="Pious fraud">Pious fraud</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Potemkin_village" title="Potemkin village">Potemkin village</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pentagon_Papers" title="Pentagon Papers">Pentagon Papers</a>, which exposed systemic lies from the administrations of three presidents.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stephen_Glass" title="Stephen Glass">Stephen Glass</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Weapons_of_mass_destruction" title="Weapons of mass destruction">Weapons of mass destruction</a>, need to say more?</li></ul></div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links">External links</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Deceit&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050317092622/http://www.cuyamaca.net/bruce.thompson/Fallacies/misrepresenting.asp">Misrepresenting the Facts</a>, Bruce Thompson</li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Notes">Notes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Deceit&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Notes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-4">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">We'd point out that pathological lying is a known characteristic of <a href="/wiki/Sociopath" class="mw-redirect" title="Sociopath">sociopathy</a>, but that <i>might</i> be <a href="/wiki/Poisoning_the_well" title="Poisoning the well">poisoning the well</a>. (Besides, <a href="/wiki/Personality_disorder#Narcissistic_Personality_Disorder" title="Personality disorder">narcissism</a> sounds like a more accurate armchair diagnosis of Trump.)</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Deceit&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/">A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes: Mark Twain? Jonathan Swift? Thomas Francklin? Fisher Ames? Thomas Jefferson? John Randolph? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? Winston Churchill? Terry Pratchett? Anonymous?</a> <i><a href="/wiki/Quote_Investigator" title="Quote Investigator">Quote Investigator</a></i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/let31.asp">Jefferson's Letter to Peter Carr.</a> <i>Yale Law School</i>, "Avalon Project"</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-3">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/of-course-trump-called-comey-a-liar-thats-his-strategy/2017/06/12/6ff4b4a8-4fa6-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html">Of course Trump called Comey a liar: That's always been his strategy</a> by Dana Milbank (June 12 at 4:28 PM) <i>The Washington Post</i>.</span> </li> </ol></div></div>    </div></div><div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" 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