...wears it to school the next morning, and finally she asks, “How do I look?” Do you lie or tell her the truth? Everybody lies, everyone, whether it’s a “little white lie” used to protect someone’s feelings or a very big lie said to hurt others, it’s a part of human nature. However, I believe that lies can only be told when they are used to protect and care for others. It seems to me that, lying is okay when it is used to protect the feelings of others. For example, in the article, “The U.S. Political Campaign: Lies, Lies, Lies,” by Paul Grey, Grey states that, “Most “little white lies” belong here, well-intentioned...
Words: 739 - Pages: 3
...When Is Lying OK? Lying is absolutely a terrible and life-threatening thing to do that could destroy and demolish your life. Lying has annihilated thousands of lives and continues to do so today. Around the world, there is an international debate deciding if lying is acceptable or not. Some may argue that lying can protect and bulwark someone’s feelings and emotions. But in today’s society, most people would rather live sadly amidst truth than live happily amongst lies. The truth is that lying is unacceptable and intolerable because it hurts the liar and others around them. There are many reasons and facts that prove lying is bad. For example, being truthful is everyone’s individual duty. Another reason you shouldn’t lie is that telling the truth is much...
Words: 446 - Pages: 2
...When is lying ok? Well when you lie you have to think of the other person and how it will affect them and sometimes even yourself. And another thing is that you have to be 50/50 in lying and telling the truth because it doesn't always work out for you. The first thing I want to talk to you about is that lying is always good to protect others and telling the truth is a way to feel less guilty. For an example when your friend ask if she looks good in this dress you dont no if to lie or to tell her the truth. If you lie think of the way it will affect her, but if you tell her the truth it might hurt her feelings but she know you will always have your back because if she ever wore that dress in public and she will get embarrassed and will get even more furious at you. Another reason you would lie is when your friend gets a haircut and she ask if you like it do you lie or tell the truth. if you tell the truth you will really hurt her feelings and this is something that you can not change so you would lie and say it looks good to protect her feelings and your friendship. It starts out as a lie and then comes out something bigger, for instance...
Words: 635 - Pages: 3
...Tennessee Williams shows how lying can be destructive, and take over someone's life. Lying takes over Blanche’s life throughout “A Street Car Named Desire” lying allows Blanche to escape the reality of her life when she tells lies to other people, because she starts to let herself believe her own lies. Blanche escapes reality because she is not proud of her past, and wants to be something else but herself. Blanche tries to hide who she is to her friends, and even her family. When Blanche just meets someone, it’s easier to feed them lies about who she is because they don’t know anything about her so it’s easier to believe. It’s more of a struggle to tell her own family lies because they question her because they know her past. Blanche let’s lying destructs her life slowly, by ruining each relationship with someone important to her. Blanche lives in a fantasy world to hide from her reality. Lying can be destructive because people let it overtake their life, and the truth always ends up coming out because people end up forget their lies. In “A Street Car Named Desire” Blanche starts lying to her sister, and she knows she’s lying. Blanche says to Stella in Scene One that she’s taking a “leave of absence” from her job as a schoolteacher. The truth on that situation is that Blanche got fired from her job as a school teacher, and got asked to leave. Later on Blanche lies about her age to Mitch telling him that she is younger than her twenty-five year old sister to Mitch...
Words: 1212 - Pages: 5
...ENGLISH ESSAY The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a postmodern novel about a mathematician whose defining characteristic is inability to empathize. In the novel, Haddon’s perspective on communication/truth is that it is subjective and can be difficult. The self-reflexivity inherent in the novel gives readers an insight into the working of the mindset we would otherwise be strange and empathetic of. Therefore, the distinctive features including subjectivity and difficulty about communication/truth are conveyed throughout the novel. Christopher’s condition causes him to see the world in an uncommon way, and much of the novel allows the reader to share Christopher’s unique perspective. To take one example, he tells us about the trouble he has recognizing facial expressions and the difficulty he had as a child understanding how other people respond to a given situation, explaining his preference for being alone that we see throughout the novel. In this way both difficulty and pain are subjective. The use of anaphora when Christopher says “And father said, ‘Christopher, do you understand that I love you?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’” makes the reader anticipate to the next sentence trying to figure out what Christopher’s perspective may conclude to as it is difficult to comprehend of his unique perspective. Although the reader recognizes that Christopher has an uncommon perspective of the world, the novel suggests that everyone, in fact, has a subjective point of view. When...
Words: 739 - Pages: 3
...Lying is an integral part of human life and communication. On occasion, it is easier to lie than to tell the truth. There are many reasons for lying, whether it be an attempt to protect someone or a lie out of compassion or charity. There are both advantages and disadvantages to not telling the truth. Sometimes, the truth may hurt a loved one, thereby making it easier to lie rather than see him/her get hurt. Although lying is considered malevolent by some, it's a necessary evil in life that has to be accepted. Lies out of compassion cannot be considered spiteful in any way. In my personal experience, sometimes, lying is the best, and only option. One winter, when I was eleven years of age, I was in New York City, right around the holidays,...
Words: 996 - Pages: 4
...LYING?! FINAL ASSIGNMENT Lying is an interesting topic to discuss. It is a common wrong act that everybody does quite often in their lives regardless of good lies or bad lies. I’ve never spent times to think deeply about lying until I joined Business Ethics of my MBA program. What I remember most about lying from when I was a child is that lying is not always bad and if your lies do not leave bad consequences, and it does not harm anyone, then it is fine. Recently, I have done some research on articles about lies, and it changes my perception about lying. I found an interesting blog about “Categories of Lies - White Lies, Grey Lies, and Black Lies”, Truth Lies Deception and Coverups Blogger 2015 (TLDCB). So what is the definition of a lie? According to BBC – Ethic Guide, “lying is a form of deception, but not all forms of deception are lies.” I agree with this definition, not all forms of deception are lies, and all lies are not the same. To me, sometimes lying is appropriate and necessary in some circumstances. However, to have a better judgment of information receiving every day, we should constantly be concerned with all of our communication. The article I’ve read about categories of lies clearly defines “the major distinguishing factors between the major categories of lies are intent, consequence, and public acceptability”. I reckon those are undeniably correct. Before going to details of the analysis, from the article, we will look at the classification system of lying....
Words: 1533 - Pages: 7
...Lying in general is something that is chastised in all societies. No one likes being deceived by false statements. Kant believes that it is our duty to tell the truth no matter the circumstances. He believes that by lying, regardless of any harm done to either person involved, there was harm done to humanity in general, inasmuch as it vitiates the very source of right (Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals 64-65). I unequivocally disagree with Kant’s view on lying. The premise behind Kant’s theory is morally correct, but there are various circumstances where lying is necessary for the betterment of mankind. Kant is also not consistent with his categorical imperatives with regard to intentional deception as opposed to lying. There is a major discrepancy regarding deception and lying with his moral viewpoint. Where is the line drawn in regard to deception versus lying? Certain situations including the case of the “would be murderer” are examples where disagreement becomes evident and Kant’s absolute moral rule on lying is exploited. The first argument against Kant’s view on lying deals with his belief that all lies harm someone or humanity, either directly or indirectly, and everyone has “a right to the truth” (Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals 64). I disagree with this because in many circumstances small lies are necessary. For example, parents lie to their children about Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, and many other things. Now this may seem a...
Words: 1457 - Pages: 6
...Lying is absolutely a terrible and life-threatening thing to do that could demolish your life. Lying has destroyed thousands of lives and continues to do so today. Around the world, there is an international debate to decide if lying is acceptable or not. Some may argue that lying can protect someone’s feelings and emotions. But in today’s society, most people would rather live sadly amidst truth than live happily amongst lies. The truth is that lying is unacceptable and intolerable because it hurts the liar and others around them. There are many reasons and facts that prove lying is bad. For example, being truthful is everyone’s individual duty. Another reason you shouldn’t lie is that telling the truth is much easier than lying. Lying is...
Words: 412 - Pages: 2
...today. Clearly, morality is very important to humans. But why is morality so important to us? Perhaps, one reason why morality is so important is because it discriminates between actions that are seemingly “right”, and actions that are seemingly “wrong”. Not only that, but it also helps us handle a dilemma in the best way possible in order to avoid a potentially disastrous situation. For instance, many people consider a “wrong” action to be immoral. One example of action always considered immoral is lying. In general, many people consider lying, the act of not telling the truth or providing incomplete information, to be immoral. But is it always immoral to lie? Can there be situations where lying can be a moral action to take? At first, I didn’t think so. But after a semester of reading books such as Everything Matters, The White Tiger and Someone Knows My Name along with researching articles on lying and its implications on our society, I’ve found that as long as lying is only used to escape from a dilemma, is not harmful to others, and prevents others from committing an immoral act, it’s not immoral to lie in our modern day society. The White tiger by Aravind Adiga was a resonating book that we read this semester, and it really changed my views and judgments on morality. This book...
Words: 2614 - Pages: 11
...children we are taught to always tell the truth in every situation. Catchy clichés such as "the truth will set you free" are used to reinforce honesty in our minds. However, is it possible that lying can further your success in life, more so than honesty? Literary evidence seems to support this. Even the Bible offers stories of lying and cheating without consequence. Three literary works–the book of Genesis, William Shakespeare’s Othello, and Sir Walter Ralegh’s poem The Lie–offer support that, perhaps, the truth is not always what it’s cracked up to be. Sir Walter Ralegh discusses lying versus telling the truth in depth in his poem The Lie. In this poem, it appears that a member of the court is telling his servant (the servant being the "Soul," or perhaps the poem itself) to visit various genres of upper-class people and expose to them the uncomfortable truths of their existence. If they begin to deny these truths, the servant is commanded to "give them the lie," and publicly accuse them of being untruthful. Ralegh is claiming that these higher members of society are living lies and should be aware of them. He says, "Say to the church, it shows / What’s good and doth no good." During Ralegh’s time, clergymen were of the most powerful men in society, and they were also considered among, if not the, most corrupt. Ralegh’s intent with these lines is to expose that the church was not practicing the goodness that they were preaching about, thus harming the congregation and society...
Words: 1134 - Pages: 5
...that is false. Advertisements, our parents, our children, friends, and siblings, those who we have more intimate relationships with, and even ourselves, deceive us, just as we are deceitful to them. There are many degrees to lying, varying from little white lies, to blatant deception and perjury. The motives and desired outcomes of those who lie vary greatly from person to person, as well as the degree to which they lie. Most people would agree that there are times when it is acceptable to tell white lies or even a bigger lie for the greater good, if the truth is not something of importance. I will discuss several facets of deception. To start, I will describe several types of lies and give definitions and examples of them. Then, I will talk about some facts about the frequency at which we are deceptive on an average day, and situations in which we generally increase or decrease how deceptive we are. Next, I will discuss why lies are prevalent in relationships, and how deception creates friction in the workplace. After that, I will talk about how we deceive ourselves, and why, what motivates us to lie and then I will give some arguments about the possibility of detecting when someone is lying and if you can distinguish their lies from the truth. Lastly, I will discuss several disorders that may cause one to lie, whether it is purposefully or not, and how that can affect their life and the lives of those close to them. The...
Words: 4300 - Pages: 18
...can help to judge if someone is lying to you with fair chances of accuracy. A survey shows that about 55% of how we communicate depends on our body language. Depending on the context of the person, a simple hand motion or a crossing of the lips can have varied meanings, sometimes positive or negative. A good observant can tell whether a person is telling the truth or shying away from it just from his/her body posture, facial expressions or even through the tone of voice. In a work environment, communication and interactions among staffs and members do not always hold a sense of honesty as one would expect. People often do not tell the truth during interviews, meetings or interrogations. However, such deceiving acts can be caught if one were to carefully monitor a person's behavior and body language. What takes place in the mind in many cases transfers to body movements and postures that mean something, which act as cues whether that person is being honest or not. Here I am going to discuss some of the many body languages that people show when they are being dishonest or lying, with or without being aware of them. Liars usually do not make eye contact or avoid it when they are making a false statement. If a person has been giving you good eye contact throughout the conversation and if he or she starts looking down or away when they reach to the crucial bits, then that might be a hint that the person is not telling the truth. People when lying can seem rigid or fidget and look...
Words: 1150 - Pages: 5
...are against lying but, under some circumstances, it might be the only thing left to do. Lying is not always the best thing to do because it will affect others depending on how often a lie is told. After a lie, the feeling of telling a lie is so terrible that it might have gotten the other people into trouble for something that did not even occur. In the article, “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, she talks to us about the different types of lies there are. She explains how lying comes out in a person’s everyday life even when is inevitable. However, “In the Pale Moonlight” from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine shows how one of the main characters, Captain Sisko, felt guilty because of the lies he had made. The lie he makes, cost...
Words: 1297 - Pages: 6
...Introduction Normally, needing to urinate does not bring about positive emotions, as individuals can describe it to be quite uncomfortable. Although the sensation may be unpleasant, a full bladder can feel great, for liars. The Inhibitory Spillover Effect shows individuals with a full bladder resulted in better lying. The lying and deception is correlated with inhibition, a central cognitive mechanism. Typically, lying and a full bladder are not associated with one another, but both effect inhibitory abilities. When lying, individuals use more brainwork, as they have to think of the truth, keep it in mind, while placing layers of lies on top. Compared to telling the truth, areas in the prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex operate greater. There is also more activity in the front and cingulate regions (p.113). Experiments were done in order to determine whether or not a full bladder does actually help create better liars (p. 114). Predictions were made that the high inhibition lying individuals with a full bladder would have better control of their behavioral cues. It was also predicted that third-party observers would not be able to easily detect the full...
Words: 569 - Pages: 3
