Men have a special relationship with bullshit. Well, ordinary men do. We all are born entrenched in our own erroneous perception of everything, ourselves especially. Every fun loving neighborhood is populated with troglodytes that reduced the most complex existential/practical questions to the gospel of their crap. Those are not men. Those are simple minded entities, similar to the primal life forms that preceded the Neanderthal. In order to get these fuckheads to look at you and talk about you like the Great Monolith of Knowledge, you have to leave your bullshit behind and start a relationship with a new value, the truth.
Socrates said: "As for me, all I know is that I know nothing". He was arguably one of the first men that left bullshit behind and started to love the truth. Real men are able to have an objective view on the greater picture. They can take a step back and substract themselves from the equation. Embrace the truth guys, even when it means that you're at a disadvantage or that you're being a complete idiot. Clarity of vision is going to put you ahead of all those toasted brains that call themselves ubermensch because they have read Nietzsche (on Wikipedia). Real men understand that the world doesn't revolve around them and that it's up to the others to create their legend if they are that fucking cool to start with.
Admitting the truth to yourself is one thing, but telling the truth to others is harder. Hurting people's pride can put you in the line of fire and hurt the ones you love, but it's a long term investment. You'll get windows of solitude (because people will stop talking to you on a weekly basis), but in the long run, you'll be known as "the guy who tells shit like it is" and people won't formalize themselves of your brash analysis of their action. They will seek it like elders at the fountain of youth. You have to be consistent with your truth and your objectivity though because it's not something that is going to change overnight. Consistency is the key, which brings me to an important question.
When should you lie? Ideally, as little as possible. That's exactly why I didn't call this article: "Tell The Truth". There are occasions where you will HAVE to lie. On your resume, when the truth doesn't suffice or when you have a gun pointed to your head for example. You have to love the truth so that you are inclined to use it instead of a quick, fabricated lie. The thing with lying is that it creates cob-webs that you will have to tiptoe around later. A few cob-webs are easy to dodge, but if you're dancing limbo in between them all-day long is exhausting and not very manly. The straightforward path of the truth is.
It's easy, probably the easiest of the rules so far. Just assess the situation and tell it like you see it. The only rule is to put yourself out of the portrait so that you are not biased. It's a journalistic kind of duty. Start by first assessing the situation to yourself, without talking. If you can live with and by what you will find out, talking about it won't be difficult. So, "tell the truth" is a little too dogmatic. No one can tell the truth objectively all the time. But learn to love it. It's your ally and will get your respected among your peers (and inferior people too).
