Lying Is An Occupation: Poem Analysis

In 2016, the U.S. would experience another fiery election between two polarizing candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. While the two definitely had opposite views and agendas, the sole thing they seemed to have in common was how many lies they stated on live television. According to Politifact, during the live presidential debates, the two candidates lied over 50% of the time. While all those lies may have seemed harmless when spoken, the aftermath of such was misinformation sowed among the masses and mass accusations against the other side. Due to the potential damages caused by lying such as misinformation, it can be concluded that although lying may seem harmless or even help in the short run, in the long run, it hurts those involved in it.

First and foremost, lying destroys trust.

This is the argument found in the poem Lying is an Occupation, by Laetitia Pilkington. The opening lines of the poem state “Lying is an occupation, Used by all who mean to rise;”. While this may seem beneficial to the lier at hand, in the grander scope of things it hurts everyone else. Using lying to rise only puts wrong people in the wrong positions. Since these people are lying about the qualifications they don’t actually have to get a prestigious position, they quite literally aren’t qualified for the job. This not only hurts the organization they’re working for, but also those connected indirectly. Take another line in the poem, “Politicians owe their, station but to well-concerted lies”. In this case, the poem acknowledges the very people in charge of our society lie. Acceptance of such a fact is disastrous for our society, as this means such people aren’t really qualified for their jobs and are capable of blatantly lying to make themselves look good. Such an approach to governing not only hurts the government but everyone else in society as