Truth shouldn’t be a mistake

by tdhurst · View Comments

From Chuck Klosterman‘s Eating The Dinosaur:
“The process of being interviewed is much more stressful than the process of interrogating someone. If you make a mistake while you’re interviewing someone else, there is no penalty (beyond the fact that it will be harder to write a complete story). But if you make a mistake while being interviewed — if you admit something you’d prefer to keep secret, or if you flippantly answer a legitimately serious question, or if you thoughtlessly disparage a peer you barely know, or if you answer the phone while on drugs — that mistake will inevitably become the focus of whatever is written.”

While the roles are slightly skewed from interviewer and interviewee, social media has allowed many of us to experience the manufactured sense of intimacy that most interview participants attain. Sure, we’re not actually close, but we pretend to be in order to get a better response.

Those of us who are willing to speak without filters, to answer without preconceived or prepared response, experience this. Instead of giving answers that we think others will like to hear, we say the first thing that comes to mind. It might be right, it might be wrong, but it is always honest.

This is how I see the world. Whenever most people do or say something, they pose a question. They ask ((Metaphorically, of course)) “Should I be doing this? What do you think of me?” every time. Every single time. Maybe it’s their lack of self-confidence, maybe it’s them unsure of the context, but the reason is unimportant. The question remains.

In responding to these questions, those of us who answer discover a greater sense of self than we could on our own. “I don’t think we have any idea who we are. I think we’re engaged in a constant battle to figure out who we are ((Errol Morris, Eating The Dinosaur)) .” This is why it’s important to be honest. The more tactful and prepared our responses get, the less we know about ourselves.

We can all recite lines from movies. It’s not tough to respond in a way we know others will like. But we too often do. We do because the world thinks that it’s good to hide what makes us unique. That it’s okay to sacrifice a sense of self in order to maintain the status quo. To them, the truth is a mistake.

It shouldn’t be.

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tdhurst: Tyler Hurst has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize.

Tagged as: Chuck Klosterman, Dinosaur, Earth, Eating the Dinosaur, Errol Morris, School Time, social media, Status quo

  • Chris Foley

    All of this carefully constructed subterfuge that we all work very hard to keep clean, shiny, and desirable invariably ends up pushing aside some more easily forgotten traits. Traits such as integrity, purpose of mission, flexibility, affability.

    Time and time again I’ve seen good people, people whom I have admired, sell out their ideals in preservation of their persona, but you know what? Being full of shit takes an awful lot out of us. The preservation of our personas serve to waste whatever potential energy we’ve got before it can be converted to kinetic energy, and that’s the biggest shame. Squandered potential.

    I say persona be damned, and not for any goody-two-shoes reasons either: Lies require management, commitment, and a really good memory. A con comes with INFRASTRUCTURE – needs a support staff to keep it going, and otherwise consumes an awful lot of resources; any good con does, anyway. And unless your grand vision is to lay down the greatest con job history has ever known, why not be real instead?

    Great article Tyler, thanks for putting it out there. The truth will out.
    Chris

  • Chris Foley

    All of this carefully constructed subterfuge that we all work very hard to keep clean, shiny, and desirable invariably ends up pushing aside some more easily forgotten traits. Traits such as integrity, purpose of mission, flexibility, affability.

    Time and time again I’ve seen good people, people whom I have admired, sell out their ideals in preservation of their persona, but you know what? Being full of shit takes an awful lot out of us. The preservation of our personas serve to waste whatever potential energy we’ve got before it can be converted to kinetic energy, and that’s the biggest shame. Squandered potential.

    I say persona be damned, and not for any goody-two-shoes reasons either: Lies require management, commitment, and a really good memory. A con comes with INFRASTRUCTURE – needs a support staff to keep it going, and otherwise consumes an awful lot of resources; any good con does, anyway. And unless your grand vision is to lay down the greatest con job history has ever known, why not be real instead?

    Great article Tyler, thanks for putting it out there. The truth will out.
    Chris

  • Tyler Hurst

    Whoa. That comment is so dead on and smart it almost makes me feel dumb.

    Although lying is hard, I don’t think telling the truth is easy. In fact, it can be harder, but it can be equated to physical conditioning.

    When you lie, you use PEDs and experience massive, short-term gain with a long-term penalty. Those that are honest have to work harder to experiences gains and maintain it more often, but always reap long-term benefitst.

  • Tyler Hurst

    Whoa. That comment is so dead on and smart it almost makes me feel dumb.

    Although lying is hard, I don’t think telling the truth is easy. In fact, it can be harder, but it can be equated to physical conditioning.

    When you lie, you use PEDs and experience massive, short-term gain with a long-term penalty. Those that are honest have to work harder to experiences gains and maintain it more often, but always reap long-term benefitst.

  • Si Robins

    Nicely done. Honesty prevails. I’m just finishing up that book, and was intrigued by that very quote.

  • Si Robins

    Nicely done. Honesty prevails. I’m just finishing up that book, and was intrigued by that very quote.

  • Neeraj Bhushan

    Another nice piece. Best.

  • Neeraj Bhushan

    Another nice piece. Best.

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