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The best liars use the exhonerative voice to avoid telling a story about themselves at all: "Bags are subject to search" means "We will search your bags". "A s

The best liars use the exhonerative voice to avoid telling a story about themselves at all: "Bags are subject to search" means "We will search your bags". "A shooting involving Tacoma County Police left two suspects dead" means "Tacoma County Police shot two suspects."

deleted 11y ago
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danso 11y ago
Huh? I'm not disputing that institutions carefully use the passive voice to clean their prose of negative connotations...but the two examples you mention are not "lies" 1. I've seen the "bags are subject to search" phrase many times, including the public library. I cannot remember the last time my bag was searched, even at the airport when the search is differentiated from the usual scan. So that phrase is definitely not a cover-up for "We will" 2. Again, not a lie. And I don't mean in the "not technically a lie". There are many cases where there is a shootout involving police and the cause of the suspect's death is ultimately determined as suicide. So the "A shooting involving..." phrase is perfectly acceptable in a breaking news update when no determination has yet been made.
- bpchaps 11y ago
  Principle of Charity, my friend. I'm not really sure where you got a negative vibe from his comment. It was more of a comment on how effective word-choice is on someone's symamantic tree.
- subliminalzen 11y ago
  By using the exonerative voice, a liar avoids committing to a particular narrative. They can easily back away from a statement by saying "I only said baggage is subject to being searched. I didn't say they were searched." That said, I don't think the exonerated voice is a particularly skillful one. A careful listener can easily pick up on that.
- iamsohungry 11y ago
  > I'm not disputing that institutions carefully use the passive voice to clean their prose of negative connotations...but the two examples you mention are not "lies" Clippy says: "Hey, it looks like you're trying to start a semantic argument! Can I help with that?" > I've seen the "bags are subject to search" phrase many times, including the public library. I cannot remember the last time my bag was searched, even at the airport when the search is differentiated from the usual scan. So that phrase is definitely not a cover-up for "We will" Congratulations on being middle class and white. > There are many cases where there is a shootout involving police and the cause of the suspect's death is ultimately determined as suicide. So the "A shooting involving..." phrase is perfectly acceptable in a breaking news update when no determination has yet been made. There are many cases where this isn't the case, too.
  - danso 11y ago
    Actually, I'm Asian, FWIW.
aggie 11y ago
But those aren't lies, just a mixture of omission and clever wording to reframe the facts. They're used in unidirectional communication (a sign at the airport, a television broadcast), but don't hold up well when there are follow-up questions.

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danso 11y ago

Huh? I'm not disputing that institutions carefully use the passive voice to clean their prose of negative connotations...but the two examples you mention are not "lies" 1. I've seen the "bags are subject to search" phrase many times, including the public library. I cannot remember the last time my bag was searched, even at the airport when the search is differentiated from the usual scan. So that phrase is definitely not a cover-up for "We will" 2. Again, not a lie. And I don't mean in the "not technically a lie". There are many cases where there is a shootout involving police and the cause of the suspect's death is ultimately determined as suicide. So the "A shooting involving..." phrase is perfectly acceptable in a breaking news update when no determination has yet been made.

bpchaps 11y ago
Principle of Charity, my friend. I'm not really sure where you got a negative vibe from his comment. It was more of a comment on how effective word-choice is on someone's symamantic tree.
subliminalzen 11y ago
By using the exonerative voice, a liar avoids committing to a particular narrative. They can easily back away from a statement by saying "I only said baggage is subject to being searched. I didn't say they were searched." That said, I don't think the exonerated voice is a particularly skillful one. A careful listener can easily pick up on that.
iamsohungry 11y ago
> I'm not disputing that institutions carefully use the passive voice to clean their prose of negative connotations...but the two examples you mention are not "lies" Clippy says: "Hey, it looks like you're trying to start a semantic argument! Can I help with that?" > I've seen the "bags are subject to search" phrase many times, including the public library. I cannot remember the last time my bag was searched, even at the airport when the search is differentiated from the usual scan. So that phrase is definitely not a cover-up for "We will" Congratulations on being middle class and white. > There are many cases where there is a shootout involving police and the cause of the suspect's death is ultimately determined as suicide. So the "A shooting involving..." phrase is perfectly acceptable in a breaking news update when no determination has yet been made. There are many cases where this isn't the case, too.
- danso 11y ago
  Actually, I'm Asian, FWIW.

aggie 11y ago

But those aren't lies, just a mixture of omission and clever wording to reframe the facts. They're used in unidirectional communication (a sign at the airport, a television broadcast), but don't hold up well when there are follow-up questions.