Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
The story unfolded over a number of weeks, and in the end the film he'd made of the climactic incident in the story vanished unexpectedly just before he could show it to me to prove it was all true. Sound familiar? Aside from the substitution of a nifty home-made energy source for a nifty home-made explosive, the only difference, really, is that the "G" who told me this was someone I knew in the Youth Choir at my church and there was absolutely no possibility of his making any money out of it, nor out of any of his other little lies which I occasionally noticed.
Such people are harmless, unless they miss their calling. They should be employed in Hollywood or as science fiction writers. In the early 19th century people often told "tall tales" for amusement, and no one considered it lying. In his autobiography "Growing Up" Russell Baker described a wonderful uncle who amused the kids by telling tales about his adventures in the US Marines when he fought six-headed monsters in the jungles of South America. Even if they believed him at first there was really no harm in it. On the contrary, it helped them develop a vivid imagination and a fine sense of humor.
Such people only cause harm when they end up in the wrong job, such as when they become researchers or the head of the CIA. By the same token, an honest but dull, plodding, unimaginative person makes a fine programmer or a conscientious industrial researcher, but you would not want to put him in charge of writing the screenplay for a movie.
- Jed
