Don't know why, but I've often thought about lying.
Not a specific act, but the concept itself. In particular, one question has percolated in my head over the years; What is the most effective kind of lie.
I've come up with many answers, lies that contain a hint of truth, lies that are mostly true, lies that are 100% true, but imply falsehood... (you may notice a pattern, lol)
All good answers, but there's one particular genre of lie that beats them all:
The lie you tell yourself.
Think about it folks, who can lie to you more effectively, more enticingly, who knows what you want to hear to believe something better than you yourself?
Obviously self deception is dangerous in and of itself, but once you've convinced yourself of a falsehood, it becomes easier to convince others, because the sincerity of your words compels others to believe what you say is true.
Something to chew on.
No one is better at deceiving you than you, especially when you want to be deceived. Lots of people who are unhappy grasp for simple explanations and solutions as to why they're unhappy that confirm their suspicions, allay their fears, support their fantasies, or help them throw rocks at their perceived enemies. It's not my fault I'm miserable and failing at life, it's white supermacy's fault! Or it's patriarchy's fault! Or it's transphobia's fault! Or it's capitalism's fault! Or it's Donald Trump's fault! Or it's OP's fault!
We get manipulated because we get swept up in the stories we tell ourselves. Our minds naturally recognize patterns and fill in the blanks with our own experiences and biases, creating our own narrative that is extremely seductive. Confirmation bias kicks in, and pretty soon we can't tell the difference between the constructed narrative and reality. Or perhaps, we do not want to. Even if that lie is horrible, like "Neo-Nazis are everywhere and want to kill me". The more one becomes invested in this narrative, the more difficult it is to realize that it isn't real.
Combine this with an echo chamber that will give you a social reward for believing this lie--and a social punishment for speaking against it, and you've got one hell of a drug. Are you afraid you might be a coward? Join us in pretending to believe this lie and you can pretend to feel brave. Are you afraid that your life is meaningless? Join us in pretending to believe this lie and you can pretend your life has purpose. Are you afraid you’re mired in mediocrity? Join us in pretending to believe this lie and you can pretend to feel exceptional. Are you worried that you won’t be able to forget that you’re just pretending and that all those good feelings will thus seem hollow and empty? Join us and we will pretend it’s true for you if you will pretend it’s true for us.
You can’t be doing well if it seems like an improvement to base your life and your sense of self on an insane fantasy that you know is only a fantasy. But they keep doing it, because when the fantasy gets challenged, it threatens to send them back to whatever their lives were like before they latched onto this desperate alternative.
Thank you for confirming my bias on this issue, lol.
Jokes aside, I appreciate you expanding on what I said and hopefully making it more approachable to people less autistic than me. 😁