a quote from the movie
human traffic. pretty much sums it up..
when you're a kid, you're
blunt. when you're a teenager, you're still not adept enough at
social subterfuge to completely
conceal your intentions. when you
grow up you learn that the only point of
human interaction is to see how far you can coast on
lies. it's not a good option, it's the only option.
if adults were to admit what we really think of each other,
nothing would get done. no one could get a job or buy a car. and it's damned certain
none of us would be getting laid.
fits together with the theory that
some people are only nice to people they hate.
thelady - no, i don't think it is 'adolescent'. obviously people see through each other. call it a survival instinct - we still know what's being said, what people are thinking of each other, but we're not admitting to it and not reacting to it. we're making sacrifices of honesty in pursuit a more smoothly functioning, less antagonistic society. and, you'll have to admit, some people are
fooled. there's a median level of deception that most of us recognize, but there are exceptions in peoples' talents for it or what the situation calls for. etc, etc. i'm not commenting on what we know, i'm commenting on what we do with that knowledge. generally, we don't call each others' bullshit. we play dumb and silently agree not to mention what comes to us from outside the actual text of the conversation.