Maybe you hint at it in your text but I want to emphasize that sometimes, honesty can put the listener in a difficult situation. Such difficult situations can range from anything like scaring the listener to more serious stuff like involving them in a crime (with the possibility of them ending up in jail or worse). A couple of examples (I think there are many more!):
You are angry with someone and you tell them how you feel like hitting them over the head with the beer bottle you are holding.
You are filing your taxes incorrectly in order to evade taxes and you tell your boss about it.
Just mentioning this as in my experience, “lying” has a very practical, consequentialist “positive” aspect to it. Otherwise, I think you make good points about largely trying to be more honest—I try to do this myself in anything from expressing uncertainty when my kids ask me a question “dad, do ghosts exist” to expressing my opinions and feelings here on the forum, risking backlash from prospective employers/grantmakers.
Maybe you hint at it in your text but I want to emphasize that sometimes, honesty can put the listener in a difficult situation. Such difficult situations can range from anything like scaring the listener to more serious stuff like involving them in a crime (with the possibility of them ending up in jail or worse). A couple of examples (I think there are many more!):
You are angry with someone and you tell them how you feel like hitting them over the head with the beer bottle you are holding.
You are filing your taxes incorrectly in order to evade taxes and you tell your boss about it.
Just mentioning this as in my experience, “lying” has a very practical, consequentialist “positive” aspect to it. Otherwise, I think you make good points about largely trying to be more honest—I try to do this myself in anything from expressing uncertainty when my kids ask me a question “dad, do ghosts exist” to expressing my opinions and feelings here on the forum, risking backlash from prospective employers/grantmakers.