Persuasive Essay About Lying

Lying is something that everyone has done whether people would like to admit it or not. Despite this hopefully regretful occurrence, people often do not understand why someone would choose to lie. Obviously, everybody has different situations and reasons for lying but all dishonesty relates back to one particular purpose. Telling lies is caused primarily by a desire to protect oneself. The most common reason people lie is to protect themselves out of fear. Being afraid causes people to act differently than they normally would and make remarks that are not always truthful. Lying is caused not necessarily by a person’s contemplation of the escape they are given when telling the lie, but the fear they experience when thinking about telling the truth. This can easily be illustrated when imagining a young child lying about an incident such as breaking something in the house because they are fearful of punishment from their parents. Although fear of punishment seems to be the most plausible reason for lying, fear can strike people in many other ways, leaving them to think that dishonesty is the only escape. “It was Tad Williams who said, ‘We tell lies when we are afraid… afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will

Nobody ever wants to suffer punishment or consequences, even when he or she knows they are in the wrong. Conversely, everyone always wants to be seen by others in a good light and treated accordingly. This leads to individuals wanting to be on the better side of every situation and having the will to manipulate others to get a favorable outcome. Lying will sometimes occur automatically because individuals are so caught up in their own world and have the main concern of protecting themselves. Even though individuals have these priorities, people still do not consciously think about why they tell lies and that, in turn, will make them continue their