Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of being honest
Disadvantage of telling the truth and lying
The Importance of Lying
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The importance of being honest
Have you ever noticed how people lie all the time like if its normal. Or they think lying doesn’t harm or affect anyone because there minor white lies. Well both of these types of lies are bad. Wait nevermind all lies are bad. Most people lie because They don’t want to get in trouble or because they don’t want hurt someone else’s feelings. So say your friend asked you for an opinion on a dress she chose and you think it’s hideous but you tell her it’s one of the prettiest dresses you’ve ever seen. You shouldn’t ever do that because someone else might think the dress is ugly and she will get her feelings hurt. So you should’ve told her in the first place but just say it in a nicer version like I think we can find a better dress or that one doesn’t …show more content…
Even in this case the truth needs to be told. You could tell the truth and they could still survive because if you lie and they find out, you could harm the person again or put them more in danger than what they already are. Brad Blinton in, “Honestly Tell The Truth” an interview by Barbara Ballinger, Barbara asked Brad why is it so terrible to withhold information, especially if it means not hurting someone's feelings? Blinton responds by saying, “ You have to think about what the person’s reaction might be, then you start manipulating information to control the outcome. Also delivering the truth is easier, takes less time, and is less stressful”. Blinton says in the quote that telling the truth is easier and is less harmful than lying. If someone you love is in danger you might think of lying but you shouldn’t. You should tell the truth …show more content…
They say lying is needed to help keep friends, not lose someone you love, and have better opportunities in your life. In the article “It’s the Truth: Americans Conflicted About Lying” a man named Cohen says, “Not only is lying justified, it is also a moral duty”. People who believe in those things and in other reasons that lying is justified are wrong. To keep friends and someone you love you need to tell the truth by being honest. You also need to be honest in life. Say you applied for a job interview and you lied but you got the job. You applied because its a good job and they pay well. But one day the lie will be discovered and you will end up getting fired. Then next time you apply for a job interview your application might say you’re a liar so you won’t get the job. So you should’ve just told the truth and who knows you might have gotten the job. Telling the truth has more advantages in life than lying. In life lying never gets you anywhere and it can take great opportunities from you. So if you are one of these types of people who lie you might want to think about it before
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.
Lying is bad but the fear that can come from it is worse. Fear can rule a person which drives them to extreme and irrational acts that can shape society in a negative way. We as people are so accustomed to how we should act that during times of fear and crisis our vision is blurred and sometimes our decision making abilities are impaired. We often look past at how much fear can affect us and our society. Starting from Salem 1692 and going to the McCarthy era fear ruled the people and even now in present time America we are constantly living in fear.
Of all of the things humans do lying has to be one of the most common. There are many different forms of lying, though the worst, is perhaps, dismissal. Dismissal is used in many situations, but one that comes to mind is abusive relationships. According to Stephanie Ericsson in her essay, “The Ways We Lie”, “ it dismisses feelings, perceptions, or even the raw facts of a situation rank as a kind of lie that can do as much damage to a person as any other kind of lie” (477-28). If it can cause that much damage it must certainly be a very harsh kind of lying.
The article “Rejecting All Lies: Immanuel Kant by Sissela Bok also presents the same argument. Sissela Bok presents the ideas and viewpoints of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher. Kant believed that lying was bad and that “truthfulness is statements which cannot be avoided is the formal duty of an individual to everyone, however great may be the disadvantage.” He believed lying was always bad no matter the situation. Kant said that lying “vitiates the source of law,” or makes the source of law weaker. Our whole purpose of the government is to serve justice and if everyone is lying in court, it gets harder to serve justice. The purpose of the government would not be fulfilled if people lie. According to Kant, lying also “harms the liar himself, by destroying his human dignity and making him more worthless even than a small thing.” Kant says lying makes the liar lose his or her pride and honor. And I think it probably makes the liar feel bad and makes them feel guilty. In the article “Teens Do their Share of Lying” by Loretta Ragsdell, a quote from Sabrina, a college freshman, takes about how she lied...
The people who claim that they do not lie are probably lying when they say it. Whether it is to deceive authority or just to play a joke on a friend, it is part of human nature to lie. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby takes on a character of wealth and luxury. Gatsby wants to win back his love interest from five years ago, so he secretly becomes wealthy through owning an illegal drug business, using his abundance of money to impress her. In contrast, in Tobias Wolff’s “The Liar,” he tells a story of teenage James as he lies about his life to appear more fascinating. He lies not because he wants to, but because it comes naturally to him. Both stories convey people struggling to find the purpose of their
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
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
The book We Were Liars by E Lockhart is about an extremely prestigious family called the Sinclairs. The Sinclair family consists of the grandfather, the grandmother, their three daughters, Carrie, Bess, and Penny, and their grandchildren, Johnny, Will, Mirren, Liberty, Taft, Bonnie, and Cadence. Every summer, the family goes to their summer island, off the coast of Massachusetts. Of the grandchildren, the ones that hang out the most are Johnny, Mirren, and Cadence. On summer eight, Gat, a friend of Johnny, began coming to the island. After Gat’s arrival, Johnny, Mirren, Cadence, and Gat were known as the Four Liars. After many summers later, Gat and Cadence strike up a romance between each other in summer
Topic: Title Analysis- Does the title relate to the book? Is the title appropriate to the book?
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.)
Think about the last time you lied. Did you trick others to avoid consequences? Did it ACTUALLY save you from the repercussions? The people in our society have deceived one another into believing that lying is a safeguard. In fact, this conclusion is far from the truth as lying provokes stress and is capable of terminating the bonds of trust between two parties. This is what Barbara Ballinger and Life on NBCNEWS.com reports in their articles, “Brad Blanton: Honestly, Tell the Truth” and “It’s the Truth: Americans Conflicted About Lying”. Lying induces unexpected complications; Who knows? One consequence of lying might come hurdling right at you.
This type of lie is probably the nicest type of lie, in my opinion. This lie is told to achieve some good by telling a lie that will enhance or help the person that is being lied to or lied about. An example of this could be when you “like” someone’s picture or status on Facebook even if you don’t really like it. Some people just click “like” to make the person feel comfortable about posting it or
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
Can you remember the last time someone lied to you? Or how about the last time you lied to someone else? Did you ever stop and ask yourself why? There are so many different reasons that a person might lie. Maybe a lie about something to keep oneself out of trouble, or even a lie to impress other people. But either way there are always going to be serious consequences or effects of lying.
Growing up, we are always told to never lie because it is the worst thing you could ever do. “Lying will only lead to a horrible situation with less than mediocre results. While lying is not always good, it is not always bad either. Samuel Butler once said “Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.