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Benefits and drawbacks of lying
Benefits and drawbacks of lying
Benefits and drawbacks of lying
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As Nicholas Fraiser once asked, “Why you always lyin’?”. Lies are often considered immoral, wrong, and deceitful . Some individuals hate being lied to. However one may argue that mild deception is important for human interaction, they prefer lies to hard truths. Lies are the backbone of human society. There are some important reasons for lying including the following: maintaining relationships, self-protection, and lies for self-identity. Many people know the answer to one age old question: ”does this make me look fat?” Humans lie to avoid interpersonal conflict. In the article “Do Relationships Need Lies to Survive?” Bella DePaulo Ph.D. says: “In romantic relationships that are not married relationships, people lie in one out of every three conversations she also notes “If you tell the truth, you will be unkind, and if you say something kind, it will be a lie.” People lie very often to spare the feelings of their loved ones, as DePaulo states, the truth can often be considered rude. …show more content…
states: “In general, we lie to obtain protection.”, that viewpoint supports the idea that lying, being wrong or right, is based on the reasoning behind it. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Hamlet: “You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will not More willingly part withal – except my life, except my Life, except my life.”
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.
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
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.
Telling the truth can have some consequences, but a lie can cause more damage in a relationship once it has been figured out. People believe that by just lying, a problem is solved, but problems start when lies are told. Lying destroys relationships and truth builds honest relationships which, can last forever. In both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Rob Marshall’s Chicago, characters lie because they feel that it is easier. However, lying leads to a downward- spiral. The society we live in can either lead us to a complicated relationship with the truth or easygoing. The problem with constantly telling lies is that it starts off with one, then leads to another until everything you say is a lie. Being truthful
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
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
Lying isn’t welcome in our world. Losing trust in relationships because of lying. Lying isn’t OK because it makes people feel less of a person. Lying can ruin your
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.)
I do not know of anyone who wants to be known as Pinocchio, the wooden boy who lies and in a result, makes his nose grow bigger. As an old proverb says, honesty is the best policy. I agree with being honest at all times. First, telling the truth to me, is always the right thing. When I catch someone in a lie, I just think to myself, what has come up of this world? A person’s truths and lies prove who that person is, and what that person is capable of. Second, people can earn a great deal of respect and trust from telling the truth. Now, people trust their “gut feeling”, but someone’s “gut feeling” should always be truthful. Respect is something that is earned, and at sometimes, given to people who do the things that they are supposed to do for themselves and for others. Last, most people were taught to tell the truth at a very young age. A truth is
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.
Lying has therefore been found in relationships to be used as a means of maintaining privacy, protection of the other and self, or to enhance expression (Kunkel & Guthrie, 2013). A lot of expectation can be placed on the other in a relationship and this can in turn create or motivate one to lie, for the reasoning of upholding or presenting an image which is knowingly untrue, but is desired. In the beginning of a relationship, self-serving lies that exaggerate the positive image of a person are common. Research has found that some partners may actually prefer to not know the truth and some people are happiest when they fail to see things are they really are, especially when relationally threatening information is involved, (Simpson, Ickes, & Blackstone, 1995). This supports the argument that lying is very much dependent on the people involved, as to how they interpret lying, if they see it as dishonest and intolerable or if they prefer to live in an illusion that lying can help to
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.
Lying: A Justifiable Act There are two types of lying that is noticed throughout society: lying to protect yourself and others, and lying to withstand punishment. With the hierarchy being the initial lie, it can diverge into two categories. One type of lying is justifiable, and the other is an act of selfishness, and should retain higher consequences. Although, lies tend to carry a negative connotation, and depending on the context of the lie it can be justifiable in certain social situations. Lies are a form of protection for many, but the context of the lie determines if it should be punishable or understandable with reason.
Self-protection is the main factor of telling lies. According to some, people tell lies to shield themselves from danger, punishment, or from an activity they