Eric Wilsonargues that the often-said phrases "shoot straight from the hip," "tell it like it is," and "keep it real" are all fallacies.
We regularly create less-than-authentic identities, whether it is through Facebook profiles, plastic surgeries, or tuning into a news channel that simply verifies our opinions, according to Wilson.
But he also says we should embrace the ways we choose to show ourselves, even if they are "fake." After all, if everything is fake, then everything is real, too.
In his new book, Keep It Fake (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/2015), Wilson draws on the science, philosophy and social pressures that shape our inauthentic lives, including his own.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Wilson, an English professor at Wake Forest University, about the pursuit of "inventing an authentic life."