
She was a star of New York real estate, but her life story was a lie - gumby
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/nyregion/faith-hope-consolo.html
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rland
Had a family member like this. She would lie in the most outrageous fashion,
right to your face ("I slept with JFK! We flew to Bermuda for a week 1st class
together, just the two of us!" that sort). If you called her out on it, she
would just stare blankly--any rational response just doesn't land. Laughter or
praise, on the other hand...

I believe that New York attracts these people, from all over the country.
Maybe it's the accent, but I spot this trait in a few other famous/powerful
people, especially if they're associated with nyc -- Giuliani, Donald
Rumsfeld, and (guess who) come to mind.

It's absolutely possible for people to just straight lie, under any
circumstances, for any reason, straight to your face, with zero cognitive
overhead, zero concept of what a lie even means/is. It's just a default mode.

They live among us. And usually they're immensely charismatic, larger-than-
life.

~~~
jeffshek
More likely than not, its easier for a liar to get by in densely populated
areas. Get caught in a lie, or marked as a liar in a small town can hurt
social standing.

However, I wonder if this changes now with social media - for better or worse,
accusations (true and false) are quite quickly thrown.

~~~
steve1977
On the other hand, most people lie (or at least exaggerate) on social media.
So maybe everyone stays silent in order not to get called out themselves.

~~~
bilbo0s
There's likely a lot of truth to this. They say that every human is a liar.
But I wonder if every human has the courage and ambition it takes to lie big?

Most of us are way too fearful to even lie to low ranking people, so of course
we'll never be caught in enormous lies to high ranking people. So when you
imply all people are liars, yes, that's true without question. However, I'd
wager that only a select few have the guts or desire to go all the way to the
top with a lie.

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rukittenme
I can't read the NYT article but I assume this article is roughly similar:
[https://www.chicagotribune.com/real-estate/luxury-real-
estat...](https://www.chicagotribune.com/real-estate/luxury-real-estate/sns-
nyt-faith-hope-consolo-real-estate-legend-20200113-5ggejikgfzelfjnfpumdzstjtu-
story.html)

tl;dr. Said she was born rich. Was actually born to a hairdresser and a con-
artist. Really she was rags to riches which is pretty inspirational I think.

~~~
exotree
You don’t often get in with rich people, who likely had parents that were
likely rich given her profession and location, by saying you come from a rough
background. That just makes most rich people feel uncomfortable, which isn’t a
useful feeling if you want said rich people’s money.

~~~
WillPostForFood
So you don’t think rich people like to hang out with athletes? Actors?
Musicians? Totally gives them credibility. Look at Ben Horowitz hanging with
rappers.

~~~
sushid
Yeah but she wasn’t an actor or a musician. Most of the time they hang out
with other rich people.

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Wildgoose
My brother had an ex-girlfriend who was the same, always spinning a different
version of her life. Another friend briefly shared a house with her and
discovered that she kept two diaries. One detailing the things she had done -
and the other detailing what she _said_ she had done.

To be a good liar you need a good memory.

~~~
latchkey
A wise friend once said to me:

"Always tell the truth, it is the easiest thing to remember."

------
willart4food
Do we have an increase of Narcissists with the increase of Social Media?

~~~
cafard
No, just an increase in their visibility. Same with exhibitionists.

