White Lies Harm Literal Minds

Polite, well‑intentioned untruths—what most people call 'white lies'—can concretely harm people who interpret language literally (for example, autistic children), because those lies replace accurate descriptions with social smoothing that obscures risks and incentives. When public figures adopt policies or identities that rely on such smoothing (e.g., refusing medical interventions as solidarity), followers and vulnerable listeners can be misled about real options and harms. — This reframes routine politeness as an epistemic and policy issue: public messaging and status signaling can produce unequal harms by depriving literal‑interpreting groups of accurate information and by normalizing practices with public‑health impacts.