Okay, I've known a lot of liars
The biggest liar I ever knew was just a normal guy who discovered that his lies were the best way to make friends. When I was in elementary school he told me a story about his old school, where they made a snow fort so high the top of it was covered with cloud. He had all sorts of stories, about how he climbed to the top and held it against his classmates who were invading it. Stuff like that.

Several years later, we were in high school and I was sitting in his basement room listening to him go on. He was telling me that he regularly astrally projects. He told me his mom would walk by his room and be able to sense when he was having an out-of-body experience. When it was happening, he would go off to Andromeda, which is in his words a big astral-projection orgy where all the nutcases like him meet up. I sat there and took it, knowing it was total BS but too polite to call him on it.

A week later, he confided in me, probably the only time he ever told me the truth--lying makes him popular. He lies compulsively to everybody and it makes them like him.

To a certain degree I see where he's coming from. His lies were kind of a trust test--he'd feed you the lamest crap and see how far you'd bend backwards to keep up the charade. I know from the astral projection sex in Andromeda story I was willing to go pretty far.

Anyway, he wasn't an entirely dishonest guy, just in the stories he told. I think he was honest with his emotions.
(racetraitor has an alibi for, Thu 29 Nov 2007, 16:14, Reply)