LLWM

Mike and I went to the movies on Friday to see A Prairie Home Companion. I liked it a lot. Woody Harrelson's character says, at one point, "Liar, Liar, Whatever, Moron." and spells out the initials of each word with his fingers. It's hilarious.

It's always interesting when I know someone is lying to me. First, I have to decide what is driving the lie. Is it worth calling them on it? If it's one of my friends, I don't. I figure they have their reasons for the lie, and also I want to avoid embarrassing my friend or forcing them to tell another lie to explain the first one.

There are even a couple of different scenarios here. First there is the scenario where someone is asked a direct question but for whatever reason they don't feel they can answer it honestly. Worse is the scenario where the person just volunteers a lie, unprovoked. This bothers me because if I don't want someone to know something, I just don't talk about it. I avoid the subject altogether, rather than vocalizing the exact opposite of what it is I don't want people to know.

In either scenario, if I nod along, this makes me an accomplice to the lie. Plus, it insults my intelligence. Each time I wonder if the perpetrator is laughing at me, thinking that I'm so gullible or stupid that I actually fell for another lie. This is less likely in scenario A, where they're probably just embarrassed and hoping that I'm polite enough to pretend to believe them and then change the subject. In scenario B however, I think it's most likely that they think I'm pretty dumb, or they walk away patting themselves on the back at what a genius liar they are.