The Friday joke - Boasting and bragging special

Pic courtesy  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/496170083924358996/

 “Some things sound better if they don't come from you.”
― Joyce Rachelle

Today our humourous interlude looks at boasting. 

There are some great quotes on the subject, here are a few of my favourite.

“Perhaps the less we have, the more we are required to brag.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Another I rather like is:

“Quoting an old proverb: "An empty cart rattles loudly." she said. meaning, One who lacks substance boasts loudest.”
― Alan Brennert, Honolulu 

The boasting mindset is summed up in this sad little story.

William Shakespeare, Herman Melville, and a Walter Mitty style Tweeter  all meet up in heaven one day

Eventually, the conversation turns to the impact their literature had on the world.

Herman Melville starts boasting. He says “I wrote 15 books, and my book “Moby Dick” is still studied in schools and famous to this day”.

William Shakespeare interjects: “That’s nothing! Why, I wrote 192 works in total, and most of my plays are still studied in schools across the world. “

The two of them look pityingly at the tweeter, but to their surprise he has a big smile on his face.

“That’s nothing guys! I once posted that I was a best selling author and I got 15 likes and three retweets, two of them were from, me but one wasn't!”

 

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The Barnet Eye believes that boasting on social media, especially when the boasting is clearly what we politely call a mild exaggeration, is to be avoided. There are other things to be avoided like the plague. If you want to avoid social media mishaps, here are nine great tips

https://www.rd.com/advice/relationships/social-media-mistakes-relationships/page/2/

They are

 

1) Don't post pictures of people without their permission

2) Don't post when angry

3) Don't post impulsively

4) Don't mistake social media contact for real human contact

5) Pay attention to how social media is affecting you

6) Don't view social media as all bad

7) Don't overshare information

9) Don't lie

 

Of these, the last is perhaps the biggest sin.  The article goes on to advise

"In a new study conducted at the University College London, researchers told participants that overestimating the amount of pennies in a jar would lead to personal gain. Participants’ brains were scanned for activity during their responses. When they first began exaggerating the number of pennies in the jar, their amygdala, the brain’s built-in gauge of right and wrong, responded strongly in reaction to their dishonesty. But as their exaggerations increased, the response of their amgydala decreased, showing that the brain becomes desensitized to repetitive dishonesty.
So with every lie a person tells, the brain essentially feels less and less guilty or ashamed, which can lead to larger and more frequent lies. Senior author of the study Tali Sharot, PhD, told sciencedaily.com, “When we lie for personal gain, our amygdala produces a negative feeling that limits the extent to which we are prepared to lie. However, this response fades as we continue to lie, and the more it falls, the bigger our lies become.” This may become a “slippery slope,” Sharot adds, where small acts of dishonesty escalate into more significant lies."

 

In other words, the more porkies you spout, the less you realise that you are doing it. Once your credibility is damaged beyond repair, you become the Friday joke (and a joke every other day of the week).