OOooo... Truth serum time. Guaranteed an honest response what question would I ask?
First off I would want to be checkin' the label on my truth serum. I mean its one thing to get an honest response to a closed question (yes, no, five, blue). It is a hole other ball game to be getting a fully detailed response to an open question and the downside to asking an open question when they are going to give you a closed answer is that it becomes rather ambiguous and you've learnt nothing.
Put another way it is the Hitchhiker's Guide dilemma. Am I going to ask a question only to realise I don't understand how that answer relates to my question. Afterall even knowing the answer to life, the universe and everything isn't very helpful when its simply the number 42. I'm certain the programmers (the mice) were hoping for something with a little more theory (though it was a closed question I do admit).
To get into picking my question. There are two varieties of questions where the truth serum scenario would actually be of use. Which isn't to say that any question fits exclusively into one of the other category.
- Questions where you want to know what they are saying is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help them God.
- Questions that they aren't going to answer reasonably unless encouraged by a little of the great juice of truth.
I can think of questions of both kinds which would be useful. The questions which fit the former category are perhaps a little bit more self centred. Just the same they are probably the ones I'm going to want to ask the most. The really mundane to talk about questions like 'Why do you like me?' for the more open ones through to 'Do you like me better than she-bitch-that-shall-not-be-named?' as the pointed 'Yes I will take a one word response thanks'.
Mum would blame my personality for it, I just say it goes with my terrible perfectionism streak, but I have an inability to believe most good things people say about me. It would certainly give my ego a bit of a boost I'm sure (always assuming I get positive answers).
The other category of questions I fill largely with the 'I'm asking you this but you think its a joke' questions of life. For me the ones the come most readily to mind would be asking people what the believe in. As a Christian I am not necessarily sure the question comes up more often than it would between two non-Christians but I'm fairly certain the answers I get are influenced by the knowledge that I am one.
I'm not judgemental (well I am a little on occasion but not about that sort of thing and it has nothing to do with my choice of faith - and usually only after I've been beaten at something ie cards) and I don't care if you believe in nothing at all I just wish you'd say that rather than giving me the aggressive 'Believing in God is for pussies' viewpoint. If I don't judge you for what you believe I would much prefer it if you didn't judge me on what I believe.
So It really depends on who I'm asking the question to which of the two ways I would go. Don't expect me to pick a person that is one to many decisions for me to handle =P. People I know well or would consider my friends probably the 'why do you like me?'. Except for my best friend I believe her anyway (yes clearly my trust is rather hard to earn but then whose isn't) so I'd ask her the latter question about beliefs because after all this time I haven't worked out the answer.
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