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asiyesema

14 karma · joined May 25, 2008

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asiyesema··on Telling our children the truth: response to Paul Graham
You actually seem to have stopped reading what Graham said right around "Lies we tell kids". You weren't lied to, and you don't lie to your kids; good for you. Graham also isn't advocate the lies. He's offering an explanation as to why.

You ignore (at least in this post) the millions who were not raised like you, and yet have strong relationships with their parents. You ignore parents who've actually had to answer some really difficult questions ("What's a prostitute?"). You ignore the fact that you can't correct all the lies and half-truths because you won't hear or see everything your child hears or sees.

Even the truth as one "believes" it comes with bias, which one might consider a lie. "I believe in God, but some people don't believe he exists because they haven't had a personal experience of Him" ... the truth, perhaps, but it conveys an unmistakable opinion; how does one's 8 year old truly infer "God may or may not exist" from that? Is that really "truth" if you nudge someone so perceptibly in the direction you want them to go?

It's quite convenient for you that they were right on all the things they taught you. Or were they?