It seems to me as if from ancient times to present day, in almost every case where people have in any way Interacted or been situated so that they could be directly or indirectly Seen or Heard of by one another, a great deal of Phoniness, Insincerity, Dishonesty, Deception and the like have been sure to follow, whereas the Opposite Characteristics have generally been relegated to a Secondary and Subordinate role, and sometimes been blanketed and kept out of the way due to even the most minor and seemingly insignificant of motives.
In fact, in my opinion, we as a human race have become so accustomed to all this phoniness that, in most cases, its existence is Implied and for the most part goes without saying; and we are almost always more Surprised by a lack of it than an abundance of it.
Furthermore—and I think this really illustrates how insincerity is closer to being the rule than the exception—it also seems as if, in one way or another, we are often Honest in order to advance a Grander Plan of ours that, at its essence, aims to Deceive.
That there is little true honesty in the world—this, I think, is one of the main Starting Points for Understanding people as they are today and as they have been for thousands of years; and as for those people who outwardly state that the contrary is closer to being the case, I would imagine that most of them ultimately, deep down inside, knowingly or perhaps unknowingly, do not feel this way at all, and do not abide by such a belief in their day-to-day lives.