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Different types of lies in the ways we lie
Type of lies
The importance of telling the truth
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Truth Telling in Today's Society
Truth-telling has become altered in today’s society. In certain situations it is all right to lie or deceive. People have regarded truth-telling as overrated. It is amazing the words we put with the word lying. We call them so many various things such as; exaggeration, little white lies, half truths, deceptions, and fibbing. Lying has become a very complicated topic today. Lying can be used in many different ways such as; to protect the innocent, for tradition, and the esteem of individuals. On the other hand, lying can be used as a tool of deception and manipulation. When used in this manner lying becomes detrimental to an individual and to a society. “We need to sort out what is and what is not morally justifiable, just as we must sort out moral from immoral behavior in politics, science, and religion (qtd. in hooke, 210)”
The witness’ protection program is relied upon by many individuals across the nation to protect their lives against dangerous criminals. In order for this to be successful one must completely change their lifestyles and their identities, basically lie to every individual about their past and future in order to protect themselves. Their whole existence for the time they are in this program in a lie to themselves and all individuals they come in contact with on a daily basis. In bok’s eyes this would be wrong. If we all live by the way she describes lying people we be less reluctant to be a witness to a crime in fear they may be killed.
Tradition. One word which defines all citizens BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!! The tradition of most American children is the belief of Santa Claus. The subjection of a red faced merry man delivering gifts to all of the children in the world in on...
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...r immaturity, and using it to influence their decisions by making them appealing to their peers. Advertisers could hold the responsibility of all of societies smokers’ health in the own hands, yet billboards are posted of lovely ladies and sexy men with carcinogenic sticks beckoning to them, failing to mention the twenty-some years they will be cutting off the ends of their own life with just the lie of how attractive cigarette smoking can be.
Another way lying is morally wrong is in a marriage or a relationship. A husband and wife should always be faithful to one another. Would it be wrong if a spouse cheated and didn’t tell the other? If you were the other spouse would you want to know? When we start decieveing the people we love the most, that is when lying becomes very wrong. If the spouse being cheated on was told by another source about his/her partner
Viorst opens her article by explaining social lies. She describes these as lies to avoid hurt, such as lying to a cousin by pretending to enjoy dinner. Judith believes they are necessary and acceptable; without them, relationships would be icky and short. By being honest and not telling white lies a person can come off harsh. Furthermore, Viorst thinks that not telling social lies is arrogant.
Lying is an issue that has been debated on for a long time. Some people believe that lying is sometimes ok in certain circumstances. Some people believe lying is always acceptable. In contrast, some believe lying is always bad. Keeping all other’s opinions in mind, I believe that lying is a deficient way of solving problems and is a bad thing. I claim that only certain situations allow the usage of lies and that otherwise, lying is bad. Dishonesty is bad because it makes it harder to serve justice, harms the liar individually, and messes up records. Furthermore, it should only be said to protect someone from grave danger.
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
When initially asked about the morality of lying, it is easy for one to condemn it for being wrong or even corrupt. However, those asked are generally guilty of the crime on a daily basis. Lying is, unfortunately, a normal aspect of everyday life. In the essay “The Ways We Lie,” author Stephanie Ericsson makes note of the most common types of lies along with their consequences. By ordering the categories from least to most severe, she expresses the idea that lies enshroud our daily lives to the extent that we can no longer between fact and fiction. To fully bring this argument into perspective, Ericsson utilizes metaphor, rhetorical questions, and allusion.
Actions are either classified as right or wrong with no allowance for a gray area. Furthermore, the strict guidelines tend to conflict with commonly accepted actions. For example, lying is always considered morally wrong--even a “white lie.” Therefore, one must not lie even if it does more good. In our society although individuals accept lying as being morally wrong, “white lies” have become an exception.
In simple terms, truth telling is about being honest with patients. This means telling patients about their diagnoses, treatments and other medical information completely. Ideally health professionals would always be able to do so, but there are times where it may be best to be untruthful rather. In some cultures for instance, serious diagnoses are typically hidden from patients because of how damaging they can be to patients. Complicating this, untruthfulness comes in various degrees (Lo, 1995), so doctors must discern the level of untruthfulness appropriate for a given situation.
In response to the first question, most interviewees admitted to lying. For those that did not explicitly admit to lying, such as one salesperson, they alluded to the fact that their statements may be interpreted as lying. When asked what one would lie about to their respective counterparts, there was a similar theme amongst parents, children, and people in relationships. The parents admitted to lying for their children’s own good, and the children admitted lying to avoid punishment from their parents. People in relationships admitted to inconsequential lies that did not harm their partner at all. When asked “When is it allowed to lie?”, the majority of our interviewees brought up the idea of lying when it does not do any harm. When asked about things they did not want to know the truth about and falsehoods that people still believe in, the children across cultures had a difficult time
I remember my friend lying to me about how he got a black eye. He told me his brother punched him playing around but the truth was that he had fought with someone from another school. He had created a new truth. Because I did not know the other person he got in a fight with, I could only rely on his word. Exclusive information leads to greater power and more attention. There are many who live a life full of lies, there are some who are able to justify their lies, even some that protect their lies; however, at the end of the day it costs them their lifestyle and peace. So, if you want most people to tell you the truth, it is important to encourage an atmosphere to tell the truth. If you are listening to a confession, that may be a very important truth. It is for this reason, forgiveness is critical to society. Although some people may still lie and not learn from their mistakes. However, there are many cases where lying is not inhibited again and the individual breaks of that habit and
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
The person who is lied to suffers if they don’t find out because: they are deprived of some control over their future, and they may make decisions that they
Henry Louis Mencken said, “It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.” Under most circumstances people in the world today would lie before they tell the true. I believe people would rather stretch the truth, than be honest with themselves and with others. Judith Ortiz Cofer, Nora Ephron, and Eric Schlosser, demonstrate honesty throughout their essays.
Looking back at the definition, does it mean that a lie can be considered as deceiving and despicable only if it is intentionally used to prevaricate others? Most likely, yes, depending on how people define “falsehood” and “intention”. So in which case is lying acceptable? The answer is as long as a statement does not fall into any of the two categories above, it should not be considered as a harmful lie. These types of lies come in a variety of names: bluffing, butler lie, deflecting, exaggeration, etc since they carry distinct connotations. They occur plentiful in our daily life and since we utilize them unconsciously, they contribute chiefly to the 200 average lies told per day. We use them frequently because we believe that these lies cause little or no harm to other people. These lies serve miscellaneous purposes: to please, to avoid hurting feeling; to shun complications, to prevent greater consequences,… An prime example of this can be as simple as: “Hey, how are you doing?” and followed by a response accordingly “I’m good. Thank you”. Even if a person just went through a really crappy day, he is likely to response similarly in order to avoid further explanations. Or when your wife asks “Do I look fat in this dress?” then the answer is always “No”, since we do not want to hurt to feelings of our beloved ones with the truth. Or when your child asks “Mommy where do I come from?”, we would say “An egret brought you here”
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 ...
One reason why lying is sometimes acceptable is because it can protect others. In article 3 it states, “ ...we shouldn’t manipulate the truth except for rare times--if you’re hiding Anne Frank in your attic because her life is in danger. This is important because lying can be considered appropriate in the case of protecting someone’s life. This is also important because telling the truth can sometimes be a good deed for society. In article 3 it states, “ Many people think they tell the truth, but they don’t because they withhold information.” This demonstrates that they don’t tell the entire truth because they are trying to protect themselves. This also expresses that people manipulate information from the truth for themselves. In conclusion people think they are saying the truth but they manipulate the truth.
While others think lying is bad. “In the article,”It’s the truth: Americans conflicted about lying it states,”nearly two thirds of the american agree that lying is bad.” It also mentions, sixty five percent said lying was ok and fifty two percent said lying was never justified. It has been proven that the only reason why many people think that lying is good is when they have been in the position of trying to protect someone from the truth. While if they have never been in the position where they are being told a lie and if they have then they will think lying is bad. Even Though many people don’t like to lie they think white lies are acceptable. Like for example to inspire young children to have a bigger imagination. Like for instance to believe in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy. Several reasons have been argued as to why lying may be good or bad. As stated lying is ONLY good in the circumstances of protecting someone’s feelings. As already explained from above that lying is bad because you lose people’s trust. For instance lying could also be bad when you lie to try and not take the blame for what you have done. After reviewing this evidence from what was found an individual who runs into this situation they should think twice the next time they choose to