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Originally Posted by seeker5  It is true that there are consequences to refusing to lie. You may get kicked out of a community, you may get people upset at you, you may lose a job, you may have your parents upset at you if you're a teenager. I still say the consequences of those are better than the consequences of not being true to yourself. |
But do you have to tell them who you really are to be true to yourself? It doesn't have to be about acceptance. You can know you're good enough while simultaneously believing that telling the truth will make things significantly harder on you. I was raised around psycho conservatives and having seen what I and my friends went through there's little doubt that sometimes the best strategy is to keep your mouth shut until you're out of reach. Sometimes that will involve lying-there's no two ways about it. Indoctrination doesn't work if you never have to carry the party line and these people are good at what they do. (And it's not illegal so there's no way to stop it until you're old enough to walk away.)
That doesn't mean there is never a time to come forward, but it ain't exactly cut and dry. If you don't have the upper hand and there's no point in taking a beating, whether it's literal or metaphorical, you've got to think up something else.