Immanuel Kant, one of the most influential thinkers in modern history, once said lying is morally wrong because a lie does not give enough information to another person to make a well-informed decision. He also said that lying is immoral because the liar is misleading another person’s conscious behavior to achieve a goal. Therefore, the liar is treating the other person as a means to an end. Lying is unethical because something is achieved at someone else’s expense.
So, lying is immoral and unethical. But it’s also adversarial. People being lie to will grow resentful and bitter toward the liar when they find out the truth. Lying is inherently adversarial as the liar is trying to gain power over a person by feeding them false information. Why would I deal with you if you made it clear that you are my enemy?
I just discussed in a recent video how a famous TikTock influencer with 3.5 million followers, Liver King, was exposed for lying about taking steroids. He recently rose to fame in the past year. With 3.5 million followers, podcasts, and making over $100 million a year on the pretense that any man can have a physique like his naturally. But the BIG issue isn’t that he’s taking steroids, supplementation, or performance-enhancing drugs. The issue is that HE LIED.
He lied to everybody — and not just that he took steroids. He lied by saying you could obtain his physique by doing what he told you to — by taking his supplements, living the way he was, and saying it’s natural. He didn’t just say it once, either. He hammered the point and repeated that he was natural. He was adamant that he wasn’t on steroids.
He thought he had to look a certain way to convince people to believe what he was talking about and preaching. It was all premeditated — the whole person and entity. He perpetrated a lie to build himself and his brand into something extraordinary.
Lying sucks! It sucks to be lied to, and it feels awful catching someone lying. It also feels terrible lying to someone. By a show of hands, who out there is a shitty liar? Exactly! Me too. I’m the worst liar. When I told those white lies as a kid, I felt like anyone could visibly see me freaking out internally. I would get super nervous and fidgety, and my mouth would get dry.
These are called ‘tells,’ and if you can learn to identify them, you can tell if somebody’s bullshitting you 75% of the time. Unfortunately, it’s not 100% accurate because some people are just freaking amazing at lying. If it wasn’t for leaked emails between the Liver King and his personal trainer, the world would have never known that he was on steroids. The most critical lie-detection tool that you have is trusting your gut. Listen to what your gut tells you because it’s usually not wrong. Your intuition is the most valuable to you have and detecting whether or not somebody is lying.
You can also detect a lie if a story just doesn’t quite make sense. The pieces aren’t adding up, or it’s not realistic. To end it, ask questions. If someone’s trying to sell as story and possibly lying, ask a question about something specific they said. That’s when all hell will break loose.
- They may first start by repeating the question that you asked them.
- Then, they’ll get super pissed off for being called out, acting so offended that you would even think they’re lying.
- If prone to lying, they may consistently say ‘honestly,’ ‘believe me, or ‘I’m not lying!’. If they’re saying these things consistently, chances are they’re lying to you.
Also, when someone’s lying, check out their body language.
- They will look at their feet because they’re so focused on eye contact and body language that their feet will start fidgeting.
- They may also fidget by fixing their clothes more than usual.
- They may have fixated eye contact, look all over the place, or not blink.
- They may be licking their lips; if they’re stressed out and nervous, their mouth will dry out.
- They’ll also smile with their mouth but not with their eyes. When you smile genuinely, your entire face is engaged; but if someone’s lying, it’s only the mouth.
Lying is a horrific thing to do to your own reputation. Lizard King’s reputation is now in shambles. He is The Liver King no more, and simply just some guy named Brian Johnson. Keep this in mind for those of us not in the public eye — when someone catches you and a lie, you will typically be the last person to know. You’ll never be called out on it; instead, they’ll tell each other. You’ll be known as the person who can’t be trusted. Anything you say will be subject to their judgment before being believed.
The bottom line is, to be honest. Lying creates a domino effect where if you lie once, you will have to cover that lie with another lie. The cycle continues until you can’t hold all the stress of the lies. From there, you’ll lose credibility like Liver King. Don’t be like Liver King. You want people to take you at your word; you don’t want people to question whether you’re telling the truth.
