Hey!, Wanna See Some Sin?
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and . . . their sins." Isa. 58:1.
22. Lies22. 15. Why is lying wrong?
"Lying is like alcoholism. You are always recovering."-- Steven Soderbergh
"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important affairs." -- Einstein
The brain's "default" setting is "truth".
"Human Brain Operates Differently In Deception And Honesty, University Of Pennsylvania Researchers Report.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that telling a lie and telling the truth require different activities in the human brain.""Sections of the brain that exercises a significant role in how humans pay attention, and monitor and control errors (the anterior cingulate gyrus and parts of the prefrontal and premotor cortex), were, on average, more active in the volunteers when they were lying than when they were telling the truth," Langleben said. "If truth was the brain's normal 'default' response, then lying would require increased brain activity in the regions involved in inhibition and control."
University Of Pennsylvania Medical Center (http://www.med.upenn.edu/)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/11/011112073302.htm
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The body's functions indicate that lying is abnormal:
"Strictly speaking, "lie detectors" do not detect lying. Instead, they measure several physical changes in a person's body which are considered automatic responses to the stress produced by lying. Specifically, the polygraph monitors such bodily functions as blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration rate and depth, and perspiration. After a series of "control" questions designed to determine the person's normal functions, the examiner tests anxiety levels in response to more controversial questions surrounding the subject of the investigation. If the person's stress levels appear to increase or become more persistent, the person is judged to be lying. While proponents of the polygraph claim that this method is more than 92% accurate, most psychologists dispute these bold claims and express concern over methodological flaws in the testing which significantly reduce the accuracy of this procedure. While the test may measure a person's anxiety, these scientists emphasize that stress levels may increase merely by subjecting a person to controversial questions, whether or not that person is lying in response to them."
"Actually, more than 4,000 years ago, the Chinese would try suspected criminals in the presence of a doctor who, listening or feeling for a change in heartbeat, would proclaim whether a defendant was testifying truthfully. While advances in technology have undoubtedly increased the accuracy of such testing, many judges place no greater faith in the polygraph than in this ancient ritual."
http://www.foxbaltimore.com/news/legaltip/polygraph.htm
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"Liar, liar, face on fire""Liars give themselves away by their subtle blushing, say American medical researchers-blushing that can be used to screen large numbers of people at airports to catch terrorists.
Reading this telltale liar's blush is as accurate as using a polygraph and much faster, say the researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and it doesn't require an expert technician. The giveaway is a slightly increased blood flow around our eyes when we lie. Though difficult to see with the naked eye, this effect releases extra warmth which shows up on a thermal camera.
Lie, and the skin around your eyes glows with a faint infrared light. The polygraph did pretty well: It had a success rate of 70 per cent. But the blushing test outshone it, catching 83 per cent of the guilty volunteers and correctly identifying 90 per cent of the innocent ones.
The camera is set to show only a featureless black background for skin temperatures up to 29C, which is common for people under no stress. But as people lie, their skin becomes warmer and shows red, orange and yellow as the temperature can reach up to 38C. (The red, orange and yellow are false colours the camera uses in showing images of infrared light, which is invisible to our eyes.)
Most of the guilty volunteers showed up red and orange in the images when they had to answer: "Did you steal the $20?" And some had soaring skin temperatures, well into the hot yellow range, showing a rise of as much as nine degrees."
Ottawa Citizen, January 3, 2002, Tom Spears
http://www.human3.com/link7.htm
""Scientific" signs of lying are blinking, nose scratching, dry mouth, high-pitched voice, dilated pupils, hesitation and fidgety feet. . . . The condition of pathological lying is called pseudologia phantastica. Sufferers often pose as authority figures."
http://www.uia.org/index.html, Mar. 2002
© Union of International Associations 1997 - 2000
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"A Hard Decision"
"Whether to lie, equivocate, be silent, or tell the truth in any given situation is often a hard decision. Duplicity can take so many forms and have such different purposes and results. Questions of truth and lying inevitably pervade all that is said or left unspoken in relationships, communities and societies.
. . .
Whilst lying may be excusable or seemingly inconsequential from the viewpoint of the person lying, for the person who is given false information about important choices in their lives, the lie may render them powerless or disadvantaged. Lies may also eliminate or obscure relevant alternatives, or affect the objective appraisal of costs and benefits.Lying (whether in the form of outright untruth, exaggeration, understatement, omission, or 'white lies') is routinely used to manipulate the feelings and thoughts of others. It is also used in self-defence when people are confronted, and as a means of avoiding accountability.
. . . It may be essential to the process of selling goods and services, especially in encouraging people to purchase what they do not need. In many professions deception is taken from granted when it is felt to be excusable by those who tell the lies and those who tend also to make the rules. Government officials and those who run for elections often deceive when they can get away with it and when they assume that the true state of affairs is beyond the comprehension of citizens. Social scientists may condone deceptive experimentation on the ground that the knowledge gained will be worth having. Lawyers manipulate the truth in court on behalf of the clients. Journalists, police investigators, and intelligence operators often have little compunction in using falsehoods to gain the knowledge they seek.
Lying is an act contrary to truthfulness, or the virtue of veracity, consisting in the communication to another of a judgement that is not in accord with what the one who communicates thinks to be true. Lying not only has negative consequences for the liar and the deceived parties, but also gives rise to spreading deception and practices which may undermine entire communities. The veneer of social trust is often thin, and as lies spread - by imitation, or in retaliation, or to forestall suspected deception - trust is damaged. When trust is damaged, the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse.
Lying undermines the liar's assessment of his own integrity. Its damages the speaker in that he looks at those he has lied to with a new caution; and if the lie is known he may lose the confidence of his peers. Lying thus creates emotional and physical tension that is detrimental to liars' health. Paradoxically, also, once his word is no longer trusted, he will be left with greatly decreased power -- even though a lie often does bring at least a short-term gain in power over those deceived."
References
Bok, Sissela Lying: moral choice in public and private life (1989)
Conze, Edward The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary (1973)
Larson, John A, et al Lying and Its Detection: a study of deception and deception tests
Shibles, Warren A and Falkenberg, Gabriel Lying: a critical analysis (1985)http://www.uia.org/index.html, Mar. 2002
© Union of International Associations 1997 - 2000
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Liars "lose" their identity:
"Behavioral scientist Wendy Gamble, associate professor at the University of Arizona, has studied lying among school children. Children learn lying from adults who, said Gamble, lie two to three times a day. If parents want to raise an honest child, they must, most importantly, be aware of their own behavior. "If you lie, fess up. . . . " And when you catch your child in a lie, don't go with your "knee-jerk reaction" to punish even though you're thinking, as Gamble admits she has done: "Oh my God! She lied to me! How could she do that?!" First, explore why your child lied. Talk about what other responses would have been better. Explain that lies can be very damaging for the liar. "With each lie we tell, we lose who we are and what we believe. We're not our honest selves. Children who are chronic liars early on may have very disrupted relationships later in life." "
Lying is a lack of respect, and destroys reality:
"The Head Games We Play
Sister Dawn Nothwehr, assistant professor of ethics, Catholic Theological Union: There are numerous permutations to lying - white lies, ignoring facts, omitting facts, group think [where a person does not really agree with what their group is doing but is too intimidated to speak out], stereotyping, etc. - and mental gymnastics to excuse lies are quite common. One very popular one, according to Nothwehr: "What does it matter? No one will get hurt." Or, people might justify that they can't hurt someone's feelings. Replied Nothwehr, "I tell my students all the time that I only give criticism to people I care about. To not tell the truth is to give disrespect, it's giving of love that's disingenuous [making love a lie] It eats away reality. The real danger is the habitual use of such mental gymnastics and dispensations because patterns of lying will affect relationships with other people. There's a subtle breakdown of trust. And there's a cumulative effect in society for all the times we don't tell the truth. Asked Nothwehr, "Why don't people vote anymore? Because politicians routinely break promises. When people can't depend on one another, you have to be ever vigilant and that takes a lot of energy. It's exhausting to be constantly on the defensive that way."
Lying diminishes the community and relationships:"The 'comm' in communication is about community and common bonds. So, we see that the virtue of truthfulness is connected to the need for justice in relationships. Justice is most simply defined as giving someone their 'due' in a relationship." Perhaps that's why every world religion has prohibitions against lying. All see a value in truth. From the Christian perspective, truth is central, said Nothwehr, and Jesus is the model for telling the truth despite all consequences. Truth leads to genuine living."
Lying is based on fears:"Fear can take many forms: fear of conflict, fear of risking a relationship in some way, fear of rejection, etc. Lies are also a means for taking control away from someone else and co-opting it for oneself. So, we'll tell a small lie for advantage in a competitive environment. Finally, people want to be "good," and they want to be perceived as good, that they have life together."
Truth or Consequences: a Look at Lying
March 27, 2001, Mary Bridget Reilly
http://www.uc.edu/news/ebriefs/lie.htm
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Lying isolates us:
"In his book Profound Simplicity, Will Schutz explains, "Lying blocks self-insight and interpersonal contact. Lying blocks exploration of the self. Lying blocks me from knowing you. You become another person who says what a person should say, and I am bored. And so are you. When we do not lie, life becomes exciting - more exciting than violence. We unfold; our depths are plumbed. We connect with each other."
The perceived pain of telling the truth can be replaced by the exhilarating power of the truth. As they say "The truth will set you free." It will also make you a powerful leader."View From the Bridge: "My Kingdom for the Truth", Sept. 2001
Douglas B. Gehrman, Managing Director, Bridge Consulting Group
http://www.bridgecons.com/ViewfromtheBridgeTop.htm
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Lying is a disease of the heart:
"Lying and falsehood are universal problems and a root of many other problems on an individual and public level, in spoken and written words, in the media and in politics, in business and personal dealings, by believers and non-believers alike, although the degree, magnitude and frequency may vary.
Lying is against human nature, against physiology, and like a disease, has its own signs and symptoms. The act of lying produces inner conflicts between various control centers of the brain. The moment one begins to lie, the body sends out contradictory signals to cause facial muscle twitching, expansion and contraction of pupils, perspiration, flushing of cheeks, increased eye blinking, tremor of hand and rapid heart rate. These constitute the basis of lie detector instruments. In addition, you will notice the liar is unconsciously doing some movements, like covering his mouth, nose touching, eye rubbing, scratching the side of the neck, rubbing his ear, etc. One of the most clear signs is that the liar keeps his palms closed and eyes pointed to another direction than facing the person eye to eye when he is lying. A liar is aware of his body signals, therefore he finds lying easier when no one can see him, i.e., on the phone or writing."
Shahid Athar , M. D.
http://www.islam-usa.com/r32.html
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Lies and self-deception:"Most people are against lying -- at least, they claim to be. Who knows if they're telling the truth? Perhaps the only thing we can really agree on about lying is that everyone does it sometimes. The person who claims otherwise has simply told you the first one.
Good liars stick close to the truth, live close to the truth. Lies have to rest in what the liar knows to be true: They are based in the truth, because lies are by definition a careful deviation from it. Lying is a deliberate act, never an accident, and good lies are hard not to believe.
Certain lies are oil in the social machine, the ritual courtesies of daily contact. A little exaggeration, casting careful shadows and flattering light upon ourselves, upon each other. There are ordinary lies I've never told. I've never lied about my age or pretended my hair color was natural. I've never cheated on a test. But other lies come quickly. I've always found it hard to say, "I made a mistake," and would exaggerate to protect my fragile self-esteem. Most of us lie in just this way: little deceits and quick dissimulations to spare ourselves from some impending small doom -- social embarrassment, parental anger or spousal punishment.
These lies, the ones we claim to engage in for the sake of other people, are often meant to save ourselves from a little discomfort. No more, no less. A man tells me he never lies. "Except to my kids," he adds at the last minute, "so I don't have to deal with something I'd rather not discuss."
Most lies aren't "white" at all -- they're not even very gray. We just wish they were, and so we lie to ourselves about them. Lies are like that odd reflex in your leg, popping up at the first blow of the little hammers of life, seemingly out of our control. "It's for his own good." "It's such a small thing." "Everybody does it."
We can get used to lying awfully fast. "This time it's different," we tell ourselves. "That person wouldn't understand." "That rule doesn't apply here." Step by step: the lie, the excuse, the next lie, each one requiring us to make an exception to a rule, until everything is excepted. Until the rule catches up.
So many ways to fail here. We lie by commission, by omission and with silence. We lie to get and to avoid having to pay the various prices extracted from us, to punish others and to avoid punishment. We lie to stay safe. Everyone lies."
SECOND THOUGHTS, BY SALLIE TISDALE
Tell me the truth: OR IF YOU'RE GOING TO LIE, AT LEAST DO IT TRUTHFULLY.
SALON, March 25, 1999
http://www.salon.com/mwt/tisd/1999/03/25tisd.html
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The Problems with Lies:
"1. Lying is an act contrary to truthfulness, or the virtue of veracity, consisting in the communication to another of a judgment that is not in accord with what the one who communicates thinks to be true. Lying not only has negative consequences for the liar and the deceived parties, but also gives rise to spreading deception and practices which may undermine entire communities. The veneer of social trust is often thin, and as lies spread - by imitation, or in retaliation, or to forestall suspected deception - trust is damaged. When trust is damaged, the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse.
2. Telling a lie is not the same as not telling the truth. Establishing the truth does not settle the moral question of whether a lie is being told or not. In order to settle this question, it is necessary to know whether the statement was intended to mislead. Any number of appearances and words can be misleading; but only a fraction of them are intended to do so. A lie is an intentionally deceptive message in the form of a statement.
3. If, like truth, the lie had but one face, we would be on better terms. For we would accept as certain the opposite of what the liar would say. But the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field (Montaigne).
4. Lying undermines the liar's assessment of his own integrity. Its damages the speaker in that he looks at those he has lied to with a new caution; and if the lie is known he may lose the confidence of his peers. Lying thus creates emotional and physical tension that is detrimental to liars' health. Paradoxically, also, once his word is no longer trusted, he will be left with greatly decreased power -- even though a lie often does bring at least a short-term gain in power over those deceived."
Union of International Associations
Database selected: World Problems - Issues: Lying
http://db.uia.org/scripts/sweb.dll/uiaf?SC=6569&XP=UI&DD=PR&DR=B7600&PG=1&
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Lying destroys trust:"The real problem is that a person who tells too many lies is clearly untrustworthy. We have no confidence that we can have a relationship, no matter how distant, with that person. There are no trustworthy rules or guidelines for dealing with them."
"Maybe you can fool the people but science is on your trail"
Robin McKie, Observer, Sunday March 12, 2000
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3973046,00.html
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Lying can hurt others, emotionally and physically:"Lies can hurt. When trust is broken or damaged, it is difficult for people to rebuild that which is integral to their interaction. In many of the relationships and interactions in bars, are of the sexual or casual nature. As a result, when lies are employed for self-serving agendas, extremely detrimental consequences arise. In Knox, Holt, and Turner’s 1993 study, Sexual lies among university students, it was found that the most frequently told lies were about the number of previous sexual partners, the evaluation of the current sexual experience and the characteristics of and feelings for the current partner. The implications of this study alert many us to a problem that is extremely prevalent in today’s bar scene, the dishonesty and insincerity of others, which can and will affect us physically if we choose to participate. Diseases such as HIV and other STDs are not always disclosed to potential sexual partners. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sexually transmitted diseases such as Herpes is highest (28%-48%) in women under the age of twenty-five and it is predicted that 15%-20% of men will be infected with Herpes by the time that they reach adulthood. With these staggering statistics glaring many young adults in the face, college students encounter this problem, of deciphering who is telling the truth and who is not in a social setting like a bar or club, with heightened stakes."
"Lying and Deception in Relationships"
http://www.muohio.edu/psybersite/bars/lying.htx
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Deception of others leads to self-deception and poor judgment:
"Caroline Keating, a Colgate University psychology professor who has spent 18 years studying liars. For those honest folk among us there is solace. Most liars and cheaters do get their comeuppance, Keating maintains. "Eventually deception is a dead end," she says. "People begin to believe their own manipulations and deceptions. And that can lead them to have very poor judgments.""
"How to deal with deception: Everybody tells fibs, but outright lying is a dead-end road in business."By Peter Korn, http://www.news.onvia.com/x7683.xml (Emphasis ours.)
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Lying produces guilt:"Only two things will prevent us from lying: conscience and fear of consequences. There are few ramifications for many lies we tell because of the nature of lying. The more lies you tell, the better you get at telling them, and the better you get at that, the slimmer the chances you'll get caught. You don't have to worry about the consequences if your lies are never found out.
Guilt trips us up, however. Lying takes a toll on our consciences. Many of us feel bad for telling certain lies and may regret having done so. And there's something to be said for that."
"Sweet little lies abound in permissive culture" By Porscha Burke
Cavalier Daily Viewpoint, University of Virginia.
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/.Archives/1998/November/5/edporscha.asp
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Many problems with lying:
"Little White Lies"
By Richard Rodriguez, Date: 08-06-98
. . .
But lying is no easy matter to dispense with. Lying matters. Not for little reason is lying the first sin in the Bible. Satan lies to Eve. And then lies beget lies.As any architect knows, a lie can make an entire building collapse. Lies subvert reality -- what the author of Genesis would call "The glorious order of God." Lies bring disorder.
And then they self-destruct. Which is why, as children, we were warned by our parents, "Don't lie or else no one will believe you when you tell the truth."
. . .
There are not many great tragedies written about liars. More often, liars appear as figures in comedy. That's because liars become a joke -- well known as liars to everyone around them.The only one who is finally fooled by the liar is the liar himself. The perpetual liar ends up victimized by his own bad habit, never supposing that the entire world sees through his earnest smile.
There is madness in lying. Lies make one lose touch with reality. The liar needs (as Mark Twain remarked) a very good memory to remember what lies he told in the past. And then the liar ends up unable to distinguish the true and the untrue.
When he is discovered, the liar seeks escape both in ambiguity ("I didn't mean that exactly") or in literalism (hair splitting -- "I meant only what I exactly said"). President Clinton is famous for both rhetorical tools.
Finally, the politician who is a frequent liar needs "spinmasters" and good lawyers on the Sunday morning talk shows to tell American voters what the politician really meant when the politician yesterday told us something contrary to what he means to tell us today.
Some one asked me the other day, "What if Clinton is telling the truth?"
It's the appropriate question to ask -- and the sad question we are left with after watching a political career of many little lies. . . .
http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/4.16/980806-lies.html (emphasis ours)
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" Lying is theft. When you tell me something which I take to be true and as a result I invest my time, or my money, or even my care, you have stolen these things from me because you obtained them with false information.Lying creates inequality. Since you also do not like being lied to--I have never known anyone who wanted to be deceived-- you have acted as if there were two classes of humans: you, with the right to lie, and everyone else, who must be truthful to you so that you too will not lose your way.
Lying treats people as means to the end you wish to accomplish, and not as ends in themselves."
"Lying", by Jonathan Wallace
http://www.spectacle.org/0500/lies.html
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Lying is a form of self-destruction:"Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen."
Norman Mailer (b. 1923), U.S. author. Advertisements for Myself,"First Advertisement for Myself" (1959)."Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. Essays,"Prudence" (First Series, 1841).The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.parida.com/lying.html
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Lying comes from the heart:
"The content of our heart is revealed by the tongue. The Bible teaches that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Johnson says, “When a doctor sees a patient, one of the first things he usually says is, ‘Let me see your tongue.’ The patient’s physical condition is often indicated by the state of his tongue. Jesus said that what a person says is evidence of what he is inside. ‘The mouth speaks that which fills the heart’ (Mt. 12:31). What a person says is simply the over flow of his heart.” (80)
One writer said, “Words are incarnate thoughts. They are a revelation of character. The language of our lips is dictated by what we think and feel—and are. The utterance of the tongue, Jesus says, is a sure indication of the actual state of the heart. Socrates put it in different words but meant the same thing when he said, ‘Speak that I may see thee.’”Johnson (80)
Robert C. McQuilkin once said, “Falsehood is the basic fault line in the foundation of the soul, putting all the superstructure in jeopardy. All the believability a person has, his very integrity, totters on the shifting sand of one lie. Deceit holds hostage all other virtues., Hughes (272)
Thomas Watson also added, “Lying is a sin that does not go alone; it ushers in other sins., Hughes (272)"
References
Hughes, R. Kent (1998) 1001 Great Stories and Quotes. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers
Johnson, Alan F. (1973) God Speaks to an X-Rated Society. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press.
http://mbeairdministries.com/genesispro/sermons/taming_of_the_tongue.html
Why The Taming Of The Tongue Is So Important © Tim Dubberly, November 23, 1999
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Lying destroys society:"It all adds up. "We have become desensitized to the enormous significance of lying," says Michael Josephson of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Marina del Rey, Calif. "The effects are all destructive, generally lowering the level of trust in anything we read or hear." The cumulative effect is to give everyone permission to lie, Josephson says, because the powerful do.
For only the second time in 50 years, ethics and morality near the top of the list of what the public regards as the most important problems facing the country, says pollster George Gallup Jr. "I think the public is alarmed. More than three-quarters (78%) say our moral values are somewhat or very weak."
Public lying is sapping the nation's strength, says Gerald Celente of Trends Research Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y. "There is a moral and spiritual vacuum reflected in all aspects of society. Lying and cheating is permissible.""
High-profile fibs feed public cynicism
By Karen S. Peterson, USA TODAY, 07/05/2001
http://www.usatoday.com/news/healthscience/health/2001-07-05-lying.htm
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Lying threatens society:
A recent Josephson Institute of Ethics survey reveals that the number of high-school students lying to their parents increased to 92 percent in 1998 from 85 percent in 1986. Josephson warns that we have yet to feel the impact of this study. Soon this generation will move into positions of leadership, enter the work force, the political arena and our educational system and become parents.
"They're going to be nuclear inspectors and bank auditors and legislators and mechanics," he says. "If they bring to their workplace the same kind of attitudes revealed here, just imagine the havoc."
"Lying - Isn't Everybody Doing It?", by Kari West
http://www.ptm.org/99PT/MayJun/Lying.htm
" It is not the act of a public official, which has consequences for the public trust in institutions, but the acts of many private citizens which have consequences for the "private" trust of each of us in the other.My point is that people interrelate always and only within the context of a community. My trust in your word emanates not only from my prior experience of your veracity but from my experience of the truthfulness of others (and myself) in the community. We all know examples of people distrusting a class of people once representatives of that class have several times lied to them. Think of parents and children, lovers, or employers and prospective employees. But the entire community is also a class of people, and when individuals have been deceived frequently enough within the community they learn to distrust all people. When even truth is not believed, it loses its value, and the foundation of mutual trust on which all social relationships depend is destroyed.
Truth is an ethical issue subject to the Ethical mandate, articulated by Felix Adler, to promote not merely "the good of self.., nor the good of others as a thing apart, but a higher, overarching good,... [the] moral culture." The injunction is to raise the level of ethical behavior not merely in oneself or individual others but in society as a whole; i.e. to enhance the moral culture, including the level of truthfulness in society."
New York Society for Ethical Culture
President's Notes: Judith D. Wallach - March, 1998
Lying, An Ethical Culture Perspective
http://www.nysec.org/essays/lying.html
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Lying is a Misuse of language
"The debasement of language, once it is used to obfuscate rather than to establish the truth, breeds cynicism. It may not be the sole cause of social decline, but it does contribute to this powerfully. Indeed the language of advertisers, of public relations and the carefully created 'image', which plays so prominent a role in the free world, has brought a new kind of insincerity into our lives. No generation has been so aware of the treachery in language when it is trusted too readily. Everywhere people have grown wary of rhetoric, now used in a derogatory sense. The very nature of language seems to oppress the mind with a burden of inherited prejudices and assumptions; it can be inert as well as sensitive to our human impulses; barbarous in its unexamined metaphors; constantly exposing the limitations of words as an instrument of thinking; opaque where it should be luminous, deceptively clear where there is confusion below the surface."Using Obscurantism to deceive:
"Because most concepts of science, government and the professions are relatively simple, once one understands them, any ambitious scientist, bureaucrat or professional must, in self defence, prevent his colleagues and audience from discovering that his ideas are simple too. All the professional has to do is speak or write obscurely so that no one will really attempt to understand the concepts being presented but will be awed by erudition. The methods of obscurantism are many fold. Ideas are abstracted beyond necessary. Reasoning and sentence structure are convoluted. Facts are distorted. Words are used that are ambiguous or equivocal. Meaningless phrases are inserted in sentences. Words are invented and not explained. Minor points are expanded to the exclusion of major ones. The meaning or consequences of a fact are described in great detail without reference to the reality.Governmental organizations sometimes develop a language of their own, a diplomatic language, which can be disconcerting to those lacking experience of working with the organization. It restricts genuine understanding of ultimate aims to small groups of initiates and discourages those delegates unfamiliar with the procedures and languages specific to that organization.
The obscurity of diplomatic language corresponds neither to enhanced richness nor enhanced precision, but is the attempt to reconcile divergent and sometimes contradictory views by reaching an agreement which may be superficial and purely verbal."
http://www.uia.org/index.html, Mar. 2002
© Union of International Associations 1997 - 2000
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The acceptance of lying reflects a decline in values and morals:"We've had, of course, lying leaders before - but never so blatant or widely condoned. The new sign of the times is the American public's numb tolerance of such lying. Surveys report that 89% of Americans believe Clinton lied under oath. Yet he still garnered a steady 70% approval rating; and the sartorial Senate, driven by polls, voted to keep the public liar in office. Bald-face lying and obstruction of justice are mainly ignored today, merely ho-hum business as usual, slightly frowned upon but tolerated amid compensating government largesse and welfare. "It's the economy, stupid" and "egalitarian values" have replaced distracting scruples about traditional values and old-fashioned American morals."
"New Cultural Norm: Lying is OK"
http://home.netcom.com/~owensva/lying.html
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"Lying, I believe, is best understood as a relationship."
"To tell a lie to another human being is to enter into a relationship in which the person being lied to becomes an object to be manipulated. To tell a lie is to use another person. Lying is an abusive relationship. Lying is a relationship without respect, without dignity, without compassion. I cannot believe that you have inherent worth and dignity and lie to you. When I lie to you I dehumanize you.
Nothing that is good, that is valuable, that is sacred or holy in human relations can exist without honesty and without trust. We are relational creatures. That is the way we are wired. We long to connect. We need love, compassion, understanding, knowledge, friendship and intimacy. None of these is possible unless there is trust. Trust can only grow if there is truthfulness. A relationship can only be as loving, intimate, and strong as it is honest. Honesty is the foundation, the precondition, that makes it possible to love. Lying is toxic. Lying is poisonous. It is profoundly evil because it cuts off the possibility of anything that is good.
Not only are personal relationships built upon a foundation of honesty, so is community and civil society. A community can survive poverty. Indeed, community can flourish in poverty. Community can survive all manner of difficulty. But human community cannot survive without truthfulness. Trust is the life blood of human communities.
Lying is also evil because the poisonous relationship it creates eventually destroys the liar. Just like physical violence or theft, lying cuts us off from others. Lying is both cause and effect. We lie to another person when we feel hurt, angry, alienated. We lie when we feel the other person is worthless. But it also works the other way. When we lie we reinforce all of those hateful attitudes and create new distance. We cannot be part of a poisonous relationship without being poisoned.
Now, many of you may well be wondering what any of this really has to do with you. Happily, I don't know any people here who are habitual liars. (If you are, you are so skillful that you have me completely fooled.) But lying is an extreme case of a lack of honesty. As people who seek to be faithful to our highest ideals and our deepest sense of what life can be, much more is required than simply not telling lies. To my mind there is chasm between simply not lying and being honest. For most of us the danger is not that we will turn into habitual liars. At least we are not likely to lie overtly to other people.
Alas, we are more in danger of lying to ourselves. You and I are in more danger of living a lie than telling one. What wonderful tales we tell ourselves. We tell ourselves that someday we are going to follow our dreams. We tell ourselves that a bad relationship will work out even when we know better. We tell ourselves it is worth sticking out some awful situation because it will get better when deep down we don't believe it. I honestly do not believe I have been guilty being untruthful to other people, but I have told myself some doozies and have swallowed them hook, line and sinker. I have seen good friends get into all kind of trouble by talking themselves into terrible personal and professional situations when deep down they knew the truth. For most of us the worst lies we tell are the lies we tell ourselves.
As religious people, we are called to a much higher standard than not lying. We are called to face life honestly. What does honesty require of us? Honesty is a way of being in the world. Honesty demands that we see things as they are and not as we wish them to be. Honesty asks us to stop telling ourselves lies. Truthfulness demands that we not only refrain from lying to others, but that we relate to others by telling the truth with love. Not telling lies is relatively easy. Being truly honest is a spiritual discipline that is the work of a lifetime. Honesty is much more than not lying to my neighbor. Honesty asks me to be open to the truths of the world, to be true to my self and to be truthful with the people I know.
Further, I believe that honesty calls us to help detoxify our communities by helping stem the tide of duplicity that poisons our lives. We need to model honesty and to be advocates for truthfulness at work and school and government the way we insist on it in our families and among our friends.The Christian scriptures tell us that we will know the truth and that the truth will make us free. It is also true that we will not be free, we cannot experience love, friendship and community until we are truthful. We cannot live fully unless we are honest. We must face the truth and tell the truth before we can enter into the promised land of love, compassion and justice.
When we can truly face the truth and tell the truth in love, we will not enter into the kingdom of God. When we can be honest with our selves and with each other, we will have created the promised land. May the honest truth be with us and shine through us."
"Lying", Peter Morales, Senior Minister. June 3, 2001
http://www.dimensional.com/~juc/sermons/lying.html
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One lie often requires another, and another and . . .
Lying destroys trust.
Lying is an insult and shows contempt for others.
Lying devalues the liar."The fact that lying to me does great things for you and only hurts me a wee bit does not, without special circumstances, make it right. Another reason to be skeptical about with the Utilitarian approach is that liars are notoriously prone to underestimate the bad and overestimate the good consequences of their actions. As we all know, lying often begets more lying, if one is to keep the original lie from being discovered."
"Why is Lying Wrong?
There are a variety of arguments that can be given against lying, and the effectiveness of each often depends on the type of lie at issue. Let me briefly mention two popular and promising lines of argument. As many authors have noted, there’s a very strong connection between truth-telling and trust. Trust seems to be basic to any meaningful relationship, and lying is incompatible with having and maintaining trusting relationships. Since our whole economic system is built on trust (both the trust of those we know and of those we don’t), it would be nothing without it. As Bok writes, “trust in some degree of veracity functions as a foundation of relations among human beings; when this trust shatters or wears away, institutions collapse.”5 (Bok doesn't put it in these terms, but this is in essence a rule utilitarian argument.) Also compelling is the Kantian approach. When one lies, especially for self-serving reasons, one is essentially exploiting the fact that people are generally honest in order to serve one’s purposes, because no one, it seems, could rationally will that lying was everywhere the norm. Also, because knowing the truth seems essential to being able to effectively control one’s life and make reflective choices about it, denying someone the truth is an affront to his personhood and a denial of the basic respect everyone is owed. This is true even if one lies for the sake of the person being lied to. Further, one of the main arguments Kant gives against lying is that it degrades the liar herself. At any rate, in addition to these moral arguments, one should add a powerful prudential one: truthfulness and the reputation for truthfulness is perhaps the most valuable asset a business person can have. In itself this doesn’t exactly explain why lying is wrong, but it does give business people a good reason not to."Samuel V. Bruton
Asst. Professor, Dept of Philosophy and Religion
University of Southern Mississippi.
http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~sbruton/Lying.html
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A "disrespect for truth":
Lying can become an "addiction":"Why is lying wrong? According to some ethicists, the heart of the problem is that lying shows a disrespect for truth. According to others, the problem is that lying shows a disrespect for people—liars want to manipulate others to their advantage. False testimony (the specific object of the Ninth Commandment) damages people’s reputations and destroys relationships.
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it. . . . This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions." --Thomas Jefferson, 1785.
http://ethics.salvationarmy.ca/words_4.htm
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Self-deception about the nature of lies:1. You don't own a lie. Once you have released a lie by speaking it, it can grow legs and go anywhere including places you can't go. It can sprout wings and get anywhere faster than you can. Once you have released it, you have no control over it. If or when it comes back to you, you can only react to it with admission and truth, or by creating more lies. Most liars underestimate their audience and the cumulative or long-term effect of their lie.
2. You always have more than the two options of lying or truth. Don't answer. Postpone your answer. Change the subject. Wait until such time as the truth will have a more positive impact. Don't be brutal with the truth, express the truth with kindness, concern, compassion, empathy, i.e. with love.
3. A lie is never better than the truth. It may seem better in the short run but this belief is part of deceiving ourselves in order to take the quick and easy way out of an unpleasant situation. Remember that lies grow beyond our ability to control them (No. 1 above) and that you have more than just two options (No. 2). Cut your losses and deal with the situation honestly and as soon as possible. Postponement and lying only up the ante. Exposure as a liar may do you more harm than relating the truth. Since most lies are eventually discovered anyway, you only increase your problem by postponing it.
4. Just because others want to hear a lie rather than the truth, doesn't mean they will appreciate you more when you are discovered to be a liar. Liars are sometimes admired and often tolerated but never by the one to whom the lie was told.
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"If you have been deceived by someone you trusted, you know that lies can undermine credibility, disintegrate relationships and erode trust. Lies strip us of innocence. Lies humiliate us and shame us. We wonder if the person who has lied to us ever told us the truth."
"Lying - Isn't Everybody Doing It?", by Kari West
http://www.ptm.org/99PT/MayJun/Lying.htm (emphasis ours)
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Lying is futile. Eventually the truth will be discovered.:
" The Following Illustrations Indicate the danger in engaging in falsehoods
1. Coming home from work, a woman stopped at the corner deli to buy a chicken for supper. The butcher reached into a barrel, grabbed the last chicken he had, flung it on the scales behind the counter, and told the woman its weight. She thought for a moment. "I really need a bit more chicken than that," she said."Do you have any larger ones?" Without a word, the butcher put the chicken back into the barrel, groped around as though finding another, pulled the same chicken out, and placed it on the scales. "This chicken weighs one pound more," he announced. The woman pondered her options and then said, "Okay. I'll take them both."
2. On a beautiful fall day, four girls decided to go for a drive instead of showing up to class on time. When they did arrive, the girls explained to the teacher they had had a flat tire. The teacher accepted the excuse, much to the girls' relief. "Since you missed this morning's quiz, you must take it now," she said. "Please sit in the four corner seats in this room without talking." When they were seated, the teacher said, "On your paper write the answer to one question: 'Which tire was flat?'"
back homehttp://www.blountweb.com/churches/eastside/bestpolicy.html
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Once you are found to be a liar, trust is gone.
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