Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

you can just… lie


Some people are against that, even if only for purely pragmatic (as opposed to moral) reasons. This is another one of those "People who've never really known [otherwise] tend to make a lot of assumptions they're not equipped to recognize" things; being in a fortunate enough position to absorb the potential blowback of a lie is not unlike the privilege of being in a position to absorb the blowback to any other choice/decision that carries some risk that that seems minor to the average person but is potentially disastrous to someone who can't absorb it.

(And then there are moral reasons, too.)


And then there's you have to keep track of the lies, and that most people prefer to think of themselves as not the kind of person who would ever, ever gossip - which isn't the same as saying they don't.

The moral consideration carries real weight, as you note; lying in a survival situation is one thing, but this kind of problem relatively rarely meets that standard. But even if the potential moral iniquity and certain hazard is entirely ignored, the policy as a practical matter simply cannot work for long.


Everyone already does.

They just define lying such that the shielding and misrepresentation they do don't count.

Nobody brings their "whole selves" to work, let alone their "selves." I had a lot of blue collar jobs as a teenager and still pick up the occasional shift at my uncle's shop for a call-out. They're guarded but somehow also make professional office life on the west coast rn look like a pearl clutching competition hosted at a flooded blanket factory.


This one gets it.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: