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Lies to Children: Difference between revisions
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'''Dad:''' Trees sneezing.
'''Calvin:''' Really?
'''Dad:''' No, but the truth is more complicated.
|''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''}}
When things are strange and complicated, people like to explain them by analogy. Sometimes, this analogy is actually not all that accurate; for instance, atoms are usually described as a proton-neutron nucleus with electrons orbiting it like planets round a star, but doesn't actually resemble the solar system at all. However, it is still useful because it gives the listeners a simple concept they can grasp, while a more accurate explanation would confuse them or simply go over their heads. Once they've learned the analogy, they can continue to more complex topics that will eventually lead to the truth of the
This is, of course, likely to [[Analogy Backfire|backfire]] if the listener takes the analogy too literally.
The term was coined by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, and used in the book ''[[
Very much [[Truth in Television]], particularly, though not exclusively, with regard to science. (Hell, considering how much we don't understand of the universe, science ''itself'' is this to a degree.)
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See also [[Phlebotinum Analogy]]. May pop up while giving [[The Talk]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''[[Runaways]]'', Gert [[
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[The Addams Family|Addams Family Values]]''. One of the jokes has normal children telling the Addams kids about the
* In ''[[Miracle on 34th Street]]'', Mrs. Walker is trying to avoid this with her daughter, Susan, by telling her the truth about everything, in this case the reality about Santa Claus. The argument the movie makes is that kids can become rather bland and lack imagination if this is all they are taught.
* In ''[[Ink]]'', the soul of a little girl, Emma, is kidnapped, leaving her body in a coma. A Storyteller, captured while trying to rescue her, tries to explain what is happening and make the girl less afraid. "You still look like a little girl, but as soon as you came into this world, you started turning into a lioness." Emma replies, "You're full of it."
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the [[Judy Blume]] book ''Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself'', Sally asks her mother how babies are made. Her mother mumbles something about how the husband plants a seed in the wife; ten-year-old Sally wants more details, so Mrs. Freedman buys her a book about it. Later on, her unmarried teenage neighbour gets pregnant and Sally asks how that's possible, since the book told her sex was something only married people did.
* Merlin Athrawes in [[David Weber]]'s ''[[Safehold]]'' series possesses enhanced abilities ''far'' beyond the human norm because he is a machine known as a PICA. However, the residents of the planet Safehold are trapped in anti-technology [[Medieval Stasis]] and lack the foundation to understand this. Merlin explains his capabilities by comparing them to those attributed to legendary heroes called ''seijin'' ([[Bilingual Bonus|Japanese for "holy men"]]). In particular, his access to high tech surveillance allowing Merlin to spy on just about anyone, anywhere, are explained as visions that allow him to see the present, but neither past nor future.
* ''Great Lies To Tell Small Kids'' by Andy Riley is partly this, and partly just [[
* ''[[Flatterland]]'' is meant to be an educational, but also entertaining, [[Spiritual Sequel]] to ''[[Flatland]]''; unlike that of the prior work, the author doesn't stand on detail if it would get in the way of the story. Both stories are about inhabitants of mathematical spaces, so the premise has the potential to get quite technical is Lies-to-Children are not employed. {{quote
|text=Vikki started to pick up the junk that had tumbled across the cellar floor, stuffing it back into the now rather battered boxes. She had almost finished when she noticed a tattered book. (More properly, it should be described as a scroll, for on Flatland books are written on lines, not flat sheets, in a kind of Morse code; and the way to store a line compactly is to roll it into a spiral... I can’t keep explaining this kind of thing to you, my Planiturthian readers. So if I use a Planiturthian term that seems not to make sense, for instance, having Vikki—who is a line, for heaven’s sake—pick something up or carry something, you’ll just have to assume that there is some Flatland equivalent.}}
== Newspaper Comics ==
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* From ''[[Adventurers!]]'' at a [https://web.archive.org/web/20100626133200/http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20050910.html magic school]:
{{quote|'''Ardam''': "Sir, is that really how summoning works?"
'''Teacher''': "No, but it'll do until the practical course next year." }}
* ''[[Xkcd]]'' gives us the [http://xkcd.com/803/ airplane wing], and several options for what to do when a child confronts you with the lie.
** Also, ''[http://xkcd.com/826/
* Max and Zoey's [[Cloudcuckoolander|dad]] from ''[[Paranatural]]''. "You'd better be ready by eight o-clock, Zoey. In
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Jake English's grandmother tells him that she chose that last name because it was the name of her [[Evil Stepmother]]'s ex-husband, on the basis that Jake was too young to understand that it was actually the name of a powerful demon that said [[Evil Stepmother]] feared and obeyed.
* Subverted in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031121 here], when a young Agatha asks about her locket.
* ''[[Mountain Time]]'' on [http://mountaincomics.com/comic/mountain-time-13/ turtles].
== [[Web Original]] ==
* [http://notalwaysright.com/not-so-smart-card/6034 This] example from ''[[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]''. Carefully explain the whole concept of digital media to someone who doesn't get it and isn't listening, or claim that SD cards use tiny film?
* Theoretically invoked in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOtnLmJxno this] ''[[Vlog Brothers]]'' video by [[Panicky Expectant Father|John]], averted once Hank made [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWVVKrT-zbc&feature=channel this response].
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'''Kyle''': Fun for children?! Fun for children?! Look at me, Dad! I don't even know what's real anymore! Weaaaah! [runs out the door] }}
** A more recent episode does something similar... only instead of Santa, it's [[Real Person Fic|Slash]]. [[Guns N' Roses|Yes, that Slash.]]
* The ''[[
* ''[[Moral Orel]]'', episode "God's Chef".
* A ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon starring [[Foghorn Leghorn]] starts with Henry Hawk talking to his father, who tells young Henry a bunch of wild stories about chickens, telling him that they're wild, ferocious beasts who live in caves. Later, when the elder Hawk goes hunting, he [[Breaking the Fourth Wall| turns to the camera]] and says, "Hated having to tell the boy all a'them falsehoods about chickens, but it keeps him outta trouble." Unfortunately, it ultimately causes Henry to ''start'' trouble.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[The Talk|Talking to minors about sex]] is an awkward issue, because you don't really want them trying to do it at a young age, but you don't want to ignore the issue and wait for the wrong person to tell them, or worse, [[Squick|show them]]. Peoples' views and methods on telling minors about sex varies a lot.
** J.K. Rowling was asked exactly what Aberforth had done with goats at a [[Harry Potter]] Q&A session:
{{quote|'''Fan''': In the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore said his brother was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms [JKR buries her head, to laughter] [[But You Screw One Goat!|on a goat]]; what were the inappropriate charms he was practicing on that goat?
'''JKR''': How old are you?
'''Fan''': Eight.
'''JKR''': I think that he was trying to make a goat that was easy to keep clean [laughter], curly horns. That's a joke that works on a couple of levels. I really like Aberforth and his goats. But you know, Aberforth having this strange fondness for goats, if you've read book seven, came in really useful to Harry, later on, because a goat, a stag, you know. If you're a stupid Death Eater, what's the difference. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|So, that is my answer to YOU.]] }}
* Talking to minors about drugs is another awkward issue. If you tell them the facts that drugs make you feel really good and that some are okay in moderation, they'd likely run off and do them instead of doing their schoolwork. But telling them that all drugs are evil and the same runs the risk of them sneakily trying one drug, surviving and enjoying it, then thinking that all drugs are fine and then doing a harder drug that ruins their lives/kills them. Peoples' views on telling minors about drugs varies a lot, but most choose to exaggerate the dangers for the sake of having a sober child, which to some is a [[Necessary Weasel]]. Not that this is an exaggeration to everyone; the view that all illegal drugs are ridiculously more dangerous than the legal ones (like alcohol) is still strongly present in culture, even though it's ''at best'' a lie-to-children.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Dialogue]]
▲[[Category:Lies to Children]]
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