As usual just my opinions. We’re all liars. A brazen statement that I stand behind. The things we lie about, how often we lie, the degree of the lies, varies but at the end of the day, most of us lie for three main reasons: 1) To avoid getting in trouble. 2) To get something we want. 3) To spare someone else’s feelings. I believe that telling a lie to make someone feel better (a white lie), is okay but question those times when we tell lies for selfish reasons.
The problem with telling a lie to avoid getting in trouble or to get something we want, is that we typically work the idea over in our brains making sure it will work, then convincing ourselves that it’s okay to tell it, before we proceed with the deed. A lie on the fly because of being caught off guard is one thing, but doesn’t it seem that if someone planned it out, that it would have a higher degree of wrongness? The bottom line is that we often tell ourselves a lie and see if it holds water, before selling the idea to someone else (the victim of the lie), and this seems a bit seedy.
I use the word victim for a specific reason and that is to put a little more pressure on ourselves. The person we lie to is being manipulated so the fact is he or she is a victim. It sounds like such a harsh word, but it is what it is. I want lying to make us feel guilty because I think we’d be better for it. We would be wrong to live our lives like our politicians do as telling lies is just part of their day in the life. They’ve done it so long and with such frequency that they no longer have integrity. Let’s hold ourselves to higher standards.
The problem with telling a lie to avoid getting in trouble or to get something we want, is that we typically work the idea over in our brains making sure it will work, then convincing ourselves that it’s okay to tell it, before we proceed with the deed. A lie on the fly because of being caught off guard is one thing, but doesn’t it seem that if someone planned it out, that it would have a higher degree of wrongness? The bottom line is that we often tell ourselves a lie and see if it holds water, before selling the idea to someone else (the victim of the lie), and this seems a bit seedy.
I use the word victim for a specific reason and that is to put a little more pressure on ourselves. The person we lie to is being manipulated so the fact is he or she is a victim. It sounds like such a harsh word, but it is what it is. I want lying to make us feel guilty because I think we’d be better for it. We would be wrong to live our lives like our politicians do as telling lies is just part of their day in the life. They’ve done it so long and with such frequency that they no longer have integrity. Let’s hold ourselves to higher standards.
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