Is “lying” really acceptable and needed? According to statistics and articles, there are many circumstances in which lying is perfectly reasonable. Lying can very often be acceptable because it may be best for society, keep one out of trouble, and can help maintain a strong friendship.
Lying can be perfectly fine when it may be the best option for society. According to, “The U.S. Political Campaign: Lies, Lies, Lies”, the article states, “On rare occasions, lying to protect others can be a matter of life or death.¨ This goes back to the point, do what’s best for society. If a person saved someone by lying, everyone would be happy no matter what because that person just saved a life. But if one were to tell the truth and that person were to die, the a lot of the society/community would be in tears. The death doesn’t just affect family, it can also affect friends and others. Also, according to, “It’s the Truth: Americans Conflicted About Lying”, lying “is sometimes a moral duty.” as stated by the article.
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In the article, “Teens do their Share of Lying”, a young teen,Yolanda, says “Sometimes I hide the outfit in my book bag.” People do this because they don’t want to get in trouble. Your mom may not be a fan of your outfit, but you want to where it. So what would someone do? Try thinking of lies and ways to be able to wear the outfit without getting in trouble. Another example is when a girl name Sabrina says, “I used to blame things on my friends…”. If one is late to school or gets in trouble, he/she could blame another person as a way to not get into any trouble. Both these quotes suggest how and why someone would lie to get out of
The article, “Is Lying Bad for Us,” accurately describes the intentions of a “liar.” The author says, “Though liars do not tell the truth, they care about it, while the bullshitter does not even care about the truth and seeks merely to impress” (Gunderman). This statement proves that lying should not be viewed as out of the ordinary, or unacceptable, and that liars should not be viewed as bad people. Lying can be shown as a way of protecting or caring
Although lying may not be necessarily morale, in some cases it is better to lie than to let those that you care about know the truth. However immoral it may have been, Walter White needed to lie to his family in order to prevent them from knowing that he sold and produced crystal meth, something he did to support them after he imminent death due to his complications with lung cancer. Batman and Commissioner Gordon lied to the citizens of Gotham about Harvey Dent's death in order for him to remain being Gotham's symbol of hope after the Joker turns him into a crazed serial killer, which would easily tarnish his reputation and send Gotham into anarchy if the truth got out to the public. Lying is only justified if there are good intentions behind it and if others benefit from it; otherwise, what purpose does lying serve?
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
Lying is bad but the fear that can come from it is worse. Fear can rule a person which drives them to extreme and irrational acts that can shape society in a negative way. We as people are so accustomed to how we should act that during times of fear and crisis our vision is blurred and sometimes our decision making abilities are impaired. We often look past at how much fear can affect us and our society. Starting from Salem 1692 and going to the McCarthy era fear ruled the people and even now in present time America we are constantly living in fear.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
The article “Rejecting All Lies: Immanuel Kant by Sissela Bok also presents the same argument. Sissela Bok presents the ideas and viewpoints of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher. Kant believed that lying was bad and that “truthfulness is statements which cannot be avoided is the formal duty of an individual to everyone, however great may be the disadvantage.” He believed lying was always bad no matter the situation. Kant said that lying “vitiates the source of law,” or makes the source of law weaker. Our whole purpose of the government is to serve justice and if everyone is lying in court, it gets harder to serve justice. The purpose of the government would not be fulfilled if people lie. According to Kant, lying also “harms the liar himself, by destroying his human dignity and making him more worthless even than a small thing.” Kant says lying makes the liar lose his or her pride and honor. And I think it probably makes the liar feel bad and makes them feel guilty. In the article “Teens Do their Share of Lying” by Loretta Ragsdell, a quote from Sabrina, a college freshman, takes about how she lied...
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
First of all, sometimes we lie to prevent hurt feelings. I am sure we all have told a little white lie to protect others feelings. Let’s say that my friend asked me if I liked the outfit that she was wearing, and if I do not like it I am going to say I do to prevent her feelings from getting hurt, I am sure most of us do this. It is
A study at the University of Massachusetts found that “…60 percent of people lied at least once during a 10-minute conversation and told an average of two to three lies…” (“umass”). At first, this statistic seems startling, but when looking upon the many reasons people tell lies, it becomes easier to believe. Lies are not all necessarily the large friendship-breaking ones we think of in a negative light; they can also be as simple as stating that an outfit is beautiful when it truly is not. When considering these smaller lies, it is difficult to find someone who does not lie at least one time a day. These little lies bring in a question of their own. Is all lying truly negative? Would the world be better off if everyone was forced to tell the truth? In a world where lying is so integrated into society, understanding the causes of lying can allow one to see why it appears to be necessary to the world today.
People lie everyday to, in someway or another, keep themselves out of trouble. Many teenagers will lie to their parents about what they are doing for the evening, how much of their homework they have done, or how that glass vase got broken while they were out of town. We even lie to our significant others about who that other boy was that called the house or what exactly we did with our friends last night. All anyone is trying to accomplish by this is to stay out of trouble when we know we’ve done wrong. But we never think of the effects of lying. Although we think we’re being sly, parents are usually smarter than we give them credit for! And eventually our boyfriends and girlfriends will find out! Then the problem becomes the issue of trust. If you lie, there is no trust. That can be one of the serious consequences of lying.
Liars have rumors spread around about how they lie all the time. Nobody wants to talk to them because they won't know if they are lying to them or not. They aren't trusted as much as people who don't lie. Liars never get very far in life and always have a reputation of lying. It's much better to tell the truth and have friends who trust them, rather than lying and having rumors spread around making no one like them.
Secondly, it is okay to be untruthful if you are trying to protect people. In certain situations, it is safer, and more practical for you to tell a lie rather than putting a loved one in jeopardy. To illustrate you may be in a situation where you are in a serious or dangerous situation, and you do not what anyone else involved, to keep them safe. For example, if you are getting held up for ransom, would you tell the truth to a loved one and get them involved, or lie and keep them safe? The obvious answer is to keep them safe at all costs, even if it means lying. Also, you do not want to put someone in harm’s way, so it would be ...
Almost everyone, eventually, will lie. Actually, a few people, dismal to state, lie constantly. Even the youngest children will lie, particularly because they think by lying they will not be disciplined for their actions.
Telling the truth teaches one person self- respect for themselves and others as well. Telling the truth also sets a good example for others to do the same thing and make a “chain reaction”. People can make a “chain reaction” by passing on what they have done from one person to another, and before you know it, everyone is changing greatly, and the world is progressing tremendously. Lies are told all around the world, and they are told every day. One lie can often lead to another lie and cause you to be caught up in one big lie that will be hard to get out of if people do not tell the truth. If a person thinks that is okay to lie, they better think again, the truth always comes out no matter how hard a person tries to keep it in, or how much someone thinks that they can get away with lying. No person can keep in or hold a grudge with what they have done. After all, telling the truth is the right thing to do, and everyone should do it. Telling the truth is always much easier than the trouble of a
Sometimes better to tell lie than to tell a truth for some kind of reasons. That is for some time for an entertainment only. But telling a lie is not good for all the time. There is one more thing in my life that was a great impact to me when I was sixteen years old that is telling a lie with family. At that time I had many friends, and usually I liked to roam with them. At that time, I had no value of money. Even I was not mature enough to understand how to spend it. These all things which resulted into bad habits. My parents had trust on me, so I always gave excuses about study. But reality was totally different from parent’s belief. After spending some days, from school teachers complained about my work to my father. Teacher told me that I was not working hard in school. Day by day I was getting off the track in the field of study. From that day my father had a doubt on me. One day my father called at my friend’s house, but he already knew that I am not at my friend’s place. I was gossiping outside area of our house. After some time when I went to my house and all my family members were looking at me in anger. Their behavior towards me was not good, and my father was so upset with me. So, I went in my room by head