honesty - fej.org

This text below is very old. This topic is on the list for revamping soon.

The project as related to honesty :

Information plays a key role in many things in the project, and dis-honesty as well as other forms of mis-information are filtered out. People who intentionally are dis-honest will find themselves quickly powerless and ignored in the systems in the project until they value honesty. This is not directly by the systems, but indirectly facilitated and more directly by other users who value honesty.

Honesty is a very big part of my make up, and I've learned and decided to become extremely honest. However in the united states of america this is quite a handicap, and makes it very difficult to get a job, deal with people, and lots of other things. So, I've learned to try and not say anything when possible, and to try and discuss things from different angles.

What is very important to understand about honesty when dealing with people is that honesty is about intent not content. That is to say that if someone is stating something that is false, it is only being dishonest if they are doing so intentionally. If they are simply repeating mis-information that they have gotten, and believe it to be true, or are stating something erroneously, such as by mistakenly repeating information out of habit that they have since learned is not true, this is not dishonesty. However, if this mistake is later discovered, and is of sufficient importance, and the person has the ability to go back and explain the wrong information, then not doing so can be considered dishonest.

I take honesty to the point, that I also consider withholding of possibly relevant information to be a possible act of dishonesty. And as such, I tend to ramble on in details, in an effort to be completely candid and honest.

I take honesty so seriously, that not only has it caused me much difficulty in getting a job and such, that I actually review statements I make, and make an effort to retract information that was mistakenly given and is not correct. And I hope to one day be able to say that I've been completely honest for a number of years. I had been on quite a roll for a number of months, until I was in a confrontational situation with an alcoholic friend. Rather than allow the situation to get out of hand, which would have directly impacted the effort on the project, I chose to intentionally lie to appease the alcoholic friend and work through the situation. Which was successful, but I still am unhappy at having had to lie. And that same friend involved me in other dishonesty, that I briefly participated in, but later correct. So as it stands, I can only say that I've been completely honest since the middle of 2007. I seriously hope that this does not change for many years.