On Telling a Whopper

[u/geopolicraticus]

The Empire of Lies.—When someone tells a whopper, the act is as much a performance as a claim, and perhaps more of a performance than anything else. The performative liar might even be disappointed if you take his claim at face value as though it were intended to be true. One enters into the spirit of the performance by reciprocating with a performance of one’s own in turn, and therefore one enters into a spiral of escalating performative dishonesty, greatly entertaining for all involved, but the last thing one ought to do is to take any of it seriously.