LIES AND MORE LIES; BLOG #2082; APRIL28,2017

THE MESSAGE:

Our daily lives are filled with many lies. There is the harmless lie that some use to keep from getting into trouble. Consider the 'tangled web that is woven' when people sometimes have to tell subsequent  lies to keep the first one  from being outed. Research shows we are all liars. The average person lies several times per day. We lie to business associates, bosses, co-workers, friends, and even loved ones. Sometimes we even lie to ourselves.

Most of us believe that lying is wrong. We teach our children that it is wrong, and expect that this value will permeate their lives as they grow. Some children are readily punished for committing the worst possible crime of lying to a parent. Yet they hear stories that are filled with make believe tales. We justify them because the end result shows children the difference between good and evil. 

Some of us tell lies to other adults every day even as they try to justify them by telling further untruths. In our daily lives we readily despise politicians, public officials and TV commercials that lie about beneficial outcomes if we accept their promises. In fact there ought to be a strong public reaction against lies and false presentations in favour of honesty. 

Some believe that all liars are cowards! It is usually a bad thing for people to come to believe false things that are told to us by people we trust. Even when a lie is not concerned with a betrayal of trust we mostly prefer the truth. Could we lead our mostly virtuous lives if we never told lies or would we suffer if lies could be eliminated.

THE BLURB:

A GENERALLY ACCEPTED DEFINITION OF LYING: 

John lies to Mary if he says something that is not true, believes it to be not true, and intends that Mary accepts it as the truth.

SHADES OF GRAY

Are all lies wrong? When is it permissible to distort the truth?  In some cases the lie may simply involve fundamental differences in judgment. Or one might need to resort to 'Common Sense' and see through the lie as 'No harm intended' rather than belieing that, "It's simply just wrong".

Gerald Dworkin is distinguished professor of philosophy, emeritus at University of California, Davis. Presents the following dilemmas. He asked subjects in a study to decide whether or not they are lies or acceptable evasions:

1. A young child is rescued from a plane crash in a very weakened state. His parents have been killed in the crash but he is unaware of this. He asks about his parents and the attending physician says they are O.K. He intends to tell the truth once the child is stronger.

2. Your father suffers from severe dementia and is in a nursing home. When it is time for you to leave he becomes extremely agitated and often has to be restrained. On the occasions when you have said you would be back tomorrow he was quite peaceful about your leaving. You tell him now every time you leave that you will be back tomorrow knowing that in a very short time after you leave he will have forgotten what you said.

3. A woman’s husband drowned in a car accident when the car plunged off a bridge into a body of water. It was clear from the physical evidence that he desperately tried to get out of the car and died a dreadful death. At the hospital where his body was brought his wife asked the physician in attendance what kind of death her husband suffered. He replied, “He died immediately from the impact of the crash. He did not suffer.”

4. In an effort to enforce rules against racial discrimination, “testers” were sent out to rent a house. First, an African-American couple claiming to be married with two children and an income that was sufficient to pay the rent would try to rent a house. If they were told that the house was not available, a white tester couple with the same family and economic profile would be sent. If they were offered the rental there would be persuasive evidence of racial discrimination.

5. In November of 1962, during the Cuban Missile crisis, President Kennedy gave a conference. When asked whether he had discussed any matters other than Cuban missiles with the Soviets he absolutely denied it. In fact, he had promised that the United States would remove missiles from Turkey.

6. A woman interviewing for a job in a small philosophy department is asked if she intends to have children. Believing that if she says (politely) it’s none of their business she will not get the job, she lies and says she does not intend to have a family.

7. I am negotiating to buy a car with a salesperson. He asks me what the maximum I am prepared to pay is. I say $15,000. It is actually $20,000.

THE QUESTION:

Can you think of a lie that you told and would give up a lot to take it back?








THE LEMON: 










Awarded to Ken Shupe, a tow truck driver in South Carolina who left a handicapped woman sitting on the side of the road in her car after refusing to give her a tow because she had a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker.


THE QUOTE:

"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." Vince Lombardi

THE CLIP: