Mark Twain's On The Decay Of The Art Of Lying

Lying is an inevitable fact of life and we are exposed to deception in more ways than we even know. Everyone always thinks back to that one time someone really hurt them whenever anyone mentions lying or liars, but what they don’t consider is there is much more than face to face lies happening everyday. Many are oblivious to advertising and media fallacies and do not even consider it an issue. Most choose to try to ignore it, but this delusion in the news media world has skyrocketed in 2016. With the developments of “fake news” stories many people have been lied to more than ever and are to ill-informed to realize it. The biggest issue at hand is people do not acknowledge the harm caused by these false stories, but there is much to consider. How many people actually read pass fabricated, catchy headlines and fact check all news before making a cognizant …show more content…
He simply breaks down lying into two make categories one being a judicious lie, meaning a lie that is told without causing emotional or physical harm to another, this is a lie the world needs (Twain 1). If Twain was to be alive today and saw the contemporary idea that is “fake news”, he would have no choice but to put this type of lie in the latter category, injudicious lying. This type of lie has no noble cause and does nothing but hurt another for the ill gains of the individual who fabricates the deceit (Twain 4). This “fake news” is ruining peoples reputations, families, charities, and organizations due to ill-informed upon based upon fallacies. This is exactly what Twain would have advised against, especially since this also threatens peoples’ safety as well. I think we should follow the motto of only lying if good can be done from it (Twain 4). So these silly headlines, and media blurbs may seem harmless but are predators posing as house