Quora Answer: Are Good Public Speakers Also Good Liars?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Are people who are good public speakers generally also good liars?” 

That is not necessarily so.  The skills to be a good public speaker and a good liar may superficially overlap, but there are significant differences.  There is also the psychology of the person to consider.  A good speech has enough length to explain a position, while a good lie needs to be short enough for people to fill in the blanks towards a desired notion.  They are fundamental opposites in that sense. 

A good public speaker is generally a master of rhetoric.  The intent is to put forward a cogent argument on a matter, in a manner where the audience can be swayed to a desired position.  A good speech is less about what is said, and more about what is heard.  As such, the manner in which a position is stated may be more important than the substance of the position itself.  These are the technical realities of a good speech. 

On the other hand, a person who lies, and lies well, may not necessarily be a good public speaker since most liars do not often have to speak to an audience.  Deception is best done personally.  A good lie must have some element of trust for the listener to accept.  It must be vague enough that there is some level of deniability.  Lies do not work when they are elaborate since complicated elements inherently contradict each other, and the concocted story becomes incongruent. 

When we consider good public speakers who are also good liars, these lies work to an extent because these people actually believe their own lies.  The lie becomes a reality, and the alternative facts gain credence because the audience already subscribes to a similar position, and choose to be deceived.  Such a liar is often found in the political and religious sphere.  These people have either psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies. 

A good public speaker who can deceive a large audience does not lie.  A lie is an outright fabrication, which can easily be caught out by members in that audience.  In such a case, that deception is told using facts slanted in such a way that the audience arrives at a position contrary to it.  This may involve omission, logical fallacies, and misdirection.  Deception does not require lying.  This does require a high level of competency in public speaking and rhetoric.