Lionel Shriver is an American author and journalist who has experienced a life of poverty and a life of riches. She has also experienced a lot of honesty, and a life of dishonesty. She knows what life is like when you are poor, and all you have are those around you and your interagdy. When you are in a place like that, your integrity and honesty means everything to you. She also knows when you live a life of riches, your integrity does not mean as much. But most importantly, Lionel Shriver knows that through all of it, being poor and honest allows you to live a better life (Shiver). Although being rich can be fun, being poor and honest leads to a better lifestyle than being rich and dishonest. Some words we must define: to be poor means …show more content…
Lying can make you have more mental and physical health complications (Handel 3). Some may argue that lying has its benefits, there are some benefits to lying but the repercussions make it not worth it. There are two main kinds of lying. Lying to yourself, an example of this would be when you trick yourself into believing something that you know is not true (Connors 2). The other kind of lying is lying to others, this lying causes you to lose credibility (Connors 2, 5). In both kinds of lying, you lie to deceive, whether it's yourself or others. But in lying you mess out your concept of morality. You being to think that you can’t be stopped and what's right and wrong no longer applies to you (Connors 4). The majority of the time your lies are created from contempt and guilt, this means that we hurt other because we are lying to them because we feel bad. When we tell the truth, we are able to get rid of the guilt and prosper with honesty (Swain 6). Honesty, on the other hand, allows you to stay true to your morals, yourself, and who you want to be in others eyes (Connors 8). When we are honest we are able to lay a firm foundation for your lives in all we do (Connors
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.
In “The Truth about Lying” Judith Viorst explains the four different kinds of lying. She categorizes lies as social lies, peace-keeping lies, protective lies, and trust-keeping lies. Social lies are lies that are “acceptable and necessary”, they are the little white lies most people use all the time. Peace keeping lies are told when the liar is trying to protect themselves from getting in trouble or causing any conflict. The protective lies are far more serious, are often told because of fear that the truth would be “too damaging” for the person being lied to. Lastly, there are the trust keeping lies, which are lies in which the liar is lying for a friend in order to keep a promise. Viorst finds that most of these lies, while some are more acceptable than others, are necessary and she can understand them.
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
In “The Ways We Lie,” Stephanie Ericsson discusses what she sees as ten types of lies: the white lie, façades, ignoring the plain facts, deflecting, omission, stereotypes and cliches, groupthink, out-and-out lies, dismissal, and delusion. After naming and defining each type she goes on to discuss when they are acceptable or beneficial, and what their negative effects are. Lying has become a part of everyday life and Ericsson wrestles with the justification of that while questioning when all the lies will end.
There are always consequences for lying, whether it happens immediate or nebulous, a punishment will occur. Some lies cause other people to hurt that have nothing to do with the situation but still get punished. For example, someone stealing an answer key to an important test in class will make the class suffer by taking a much harder test. Another example is a basketball team having to run for a teammate’s lies. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible is based on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and it proves this exact point.
When you’re honest about the things you do, you don’t have to carry burdens about lying. Being honest can lead you to being happy because you made the right the decision to begin with. Doing honest deeds are rewarded to the people who tell the
Lying is being deceitful. It is construed in more cases than not, as the opposite of being truthful. Yet, there’s more to it than that. A person can lie without actually saying anything false. There’s such a thing as ‘lying by omission’ and little ‘white lies’ to keep people baffled as to what dishonesty is. In reality, mendaciousness is a sickness that haunts its nurturers without letting go. Then, after a while, a person can get so good at this ‘skill’ that they even begin to lie to themselves.
As Stephanie Ericsson says in her essay “The Ways We Lie”, there are many different forms of deception. That said, some lies are worse than others. Stereotyping, for instance, actively harms the lives of millions of people, making them out to be other. Groupthink makes otherwise intelligent people into fools who blindly follow the crowd. And delusions, while perhaps not morally wrong, is dangerous to whoever believes in them. Lies like those are the worst kinds a person can use.
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
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.)
However, we also learn from a young age that lying benefits us more often than telling the truth, we don’t have to do our homework if we lie about doing it. We only strive to tell the truth now because we’re taught the benefits of honesty and integrity, we wouldn’t be nearly as virtuous if we couldn’t be taught to act in such a
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
Honesty means that we shouldn’t deceive others or take things that aren’t ours. It means following the rules, and if you break one, don’t try and deny it, just own your mistake and accept the consequence. Additionally, it is important to learn from those mistakes. If we all just hid our mistakes, we would never learn.
Honesty is a characteristic that everyone should possess. However, being honest is a difficult task for many people. Living honestly means allowing a person’s true self to be exposed to others. Honesty is considered owning up to one’s wrongdoings and not lying, cheating, or stealing. Being honest is a trait that many people believe is obsolete. Even though every person interprets honesty differently, it all stems back to telling the truth. Being honest allows a person to earn respect from their peers. Honesty is allowing oneself to be completely exposed by being truthful.