There is one way to find out if a man is honest: ask him! If he says yes you know he’s crooked. – Groucho Marx. Those with firm commitment to honest living rarely put their conviction in words. Those who put on a show of honesty often prove to be the worst hypocrites. Who gives more lip service to "honour" and "virtue" than the charlatan setting up his mark for the take? Because people bent towards deception misuse the symbols of honesty, we quickly learn that when slick speakers talk about "truth" we best prepare for a trip through fantasy land. As Augustine said to the Manicheans, "They cry ‘Truth’, ‘Truth’, ‘Truth’, and tell ‘lies’, ‘lies’, ‘lies’." To further complicate the situation, people who deliberately deceive often feel innocent. If a person intellectually believes that "truth" mutates to suit the times or is a meaningless abstraction, it follows that he or she will not acknowledge a serious difference between lies and truths. Some will argue that since they can’t visuali...
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