The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson
Consider the following questions as you read this article. Be sure to prepare your responses and read critically. We will discuss this article in connection to our reading of The Crucible , study of McCarthyism and discuss our society and its modern day witch hunts.
Look up the definition of the word “lie”. Write the definition.
1. Why is each kind of lie both necessary and dangerous according to /Ericsson?
2. Why does Ericsson like “out and out lies” best?
3. Why is dismissal the “slipperiest of all lies”?
4. State Ericsson’s thesis in one sentence.
5. What function do the introductory quotations serve in this essay?
6. What type of language do you think that Ericsson is using in this essay? Formal or informal.
7. What if anything, determines the order in which Ericsson arranges her categories?
8. What purpose do the rhetorical questions serve in this essay?
9. How does her conclusion parallel the essay’s introduction in terms of style structure, and content?
**Be prepared to respond to this question in class on Thursday or Friday.
Have we become a society that believes its own lies?
“Our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish.” Read the questions that follow this quote in the article. Write a thesis statement that either agrees, disagrees, or qualifies a response and support your thesis with three pieces of valid evidence.
Thesis statement : Stereotypes are sometimes inaccurate, often negative, and always dangerous.
Consider the stereotypes applied to the following groups: the disabled, the overweight, the elderly, teenagers, welfare recipients, housewives, immigrants, teachers, lawyers, rock musicians, police officers, or another of your choosing.
Prompt : Choose one(stereotype) and outline with specific examples how they may be inaccurately or negatively portrayed. Consider how this might be dangerous in certain cases.