I wouldn’t dare defile Douglas Adam’s memory by not mentioning that you should keep a towel with you at all times, but my second contender is a surprisingly short three-parter:
- never lie.
- never tell the whole truth.
- never pass up a chance to use a real bathroom.
This is dumb, and in many cases outright illegal.
If you are giving testamony in court you are required to tell the whole truth regarding the situation.
There are absolutely other times when you should tell the whole truth, so this statement is just dumb.
Even in court you have to use some judgment to determine what the whole truth is, under what context, and to the extend of your memory or a reasonable expectation of enforcement of the idea.
There’s also limitation with self incrimination/5th.
But as a generality, omitting information on socials, whatever registration form, etc… In everyday life is a reasonable practice for preserving privacy.
Being dishonest with friends & family is messed up tho.
A partner having a rule to say that you should NEVER tell the whole truth would be an instant red flag in any relationship I am in.
The fact that that kind of rule exists for them means that they will never be completely honest with me, and I won’t accept that.
Now, obviously, there are times when you use a white lie or omit stuff, that is normal, but to constantly omit stuff, to the point where a rule is needed?
Nope.
I actually agree! Mutual trust relies on clear, full communication to the extent of one’s abilities.
I think the problem with the original statement is the absolute “never” which i defaulted to taking as a generality when interacting with impersonal third parties. This was an unreasonable assumption in my part.
Fir example, I’m going to lie to Facebook and Google. Period. But never to friends and SOs, and rarely to individual humans outside of survival in threatening circumstances.