Why Is Lying Unjustified

Lying can save you in severe situations such as life or death. Elie lied about his age and said he was eighteen instead of fifteen. “‘Your age?’ he asked, perhaps trying to sound paternal. ‘I'm eighteen.’ My voice was trembling.” (Wiesel 31). Not telling exact information to strangers about yourself can prevent bad things from happening. He told the doctor he was sick so he didn’t have to get his crown taken. His crown could buy him an extra ration of bread and soup, so he decided it’d be smart to keep it. He said he was a farmer because it could save him from being killed immediately. Lying is one of many ways that can help people survive in certain situations.

In her essay “The Ways We Lie” Stephanie Ericsson (2007) states different ways people lie in their lives and explains the reasons why people lie. Ericsson starts her essay, by explaining how she lied four times in just one day, and that she doesn’t feel guilty about doing it. Although at the same time she explains that everyone lies one way or another but there is no such a thing as a good lie. The author continues her contends by listing different types of lies people use in different situations such as: the white lie, facades, ignoring the plain facts, deflecting, omission, stereotypes and clichés, groupthink, out-and-out lies, dismissal, and finally delusion then she explains each in detail by providing examples.

William Shakespeare once said, “God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.” Lying is without a doubt never justifiable because lying can lead into even greater conflicts that might never be resolved additionally lying would ruin someone’s reputation; one might argue that lying can be justifiable under one circumstance which is that lying can protect people from danger; however, lying can make someone lose people’s trust.

Lying can be described as the act of telling an untruth, but just when is it ok to lie? In the articles, “It’s the Truth: Americans Conflicted About Lying,” from Life on NBCNEWS.com, and “Brad Blanton: Honestly, Tell the Truth,” by Barbara Ballinger, it provides evidence that leads me to believe that lying is acceptable when you do it to protect a relationship or someone from a life or death situation.

Lies are not a rare occurrence, and are all around us. When faced with an unsettling truth, humans opt out confronting that truth by lying. No one is exempt from this imperfect quality of human nature. The statement made by Martin Buber is valid because of how prevalent lying is in day to day life. The liar believes that lying can create a bubble around the truth, but all bubbles are easily popped. Once they are popped, the liar is left in a worse position than they started in, but many lies go un-popped, as they blend with all other surroundings.

A lie is considered a false statement given to fool someone. At some point throughout the day everyone will stretch the truth. Are lies just really some version of the truth or are they bold and deliberate? Lying is discussed in-depth in "The Ways We Lie" by Stephanie Ericsson and in the article "Is Lying Bad for Us" by Richard Gunderman. The two articles discuss the types of lies, reasons people lie and the consequences suffered by all. It can be determined after reading the texts that lying causes undue stress and telling the truth is beneficial in more ways than one.

There are 4 kinds of lies, there is a lie in the interest of the liar, lie to protect someone, lie to cause harm, or lie by omission. Lying is sometimes acceptable because lying can protect others, it might get you out of a difficult situation, however lying can hurt others even yourself. There is many examples of when lying is okay. Dishonesty is justified when it can protect others. In “Brad Blanton: Honestly Tell the Truth” by Barbara Ballinger it says, “... if you’re hiding Anne Frank in your attic because her life is in danger, “ it is right.

Lies, they're everywhere, are they worth the trouble? Throughout these three articles, “It’s the truth”, “Honestly tell the truth”, and “Rejecting all lies”, the authors precisely analyze who agrees, and who doesn’t agree with lying, and why. Lying may be the first thing to come to mind when in a bad situation, but does anyone realize how much damage it can cause towards the other person or to the liar themselves?

It is said that honesty is the best policy in our world, that we have to always tell the truth no matter the circumstances. Although it is a standard everyone wishes to uphold, we are well aware that it’s a lie we tell ourselves everyday. Lying itself can be tricky, blunt, or downright malicious depending on its intended use. It can be the existence of Santa to explain why there are neatly wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree, it can be the kind comment made towards the ugly colors your friend had chosen for her room, or even the denial of eating the last slice of chocolate cake in the fridge. In retrospect, everyone lies as the concept of a completely honest life is an impossible feat to accomplish and those who say otherwise are already

One reason why lying is mostly unjustified is because it’s even more stressful than telling the truth. In the article “Brad Blanton: Honestly, Tell the Truth” by Barbara Ballinger she focuses on Brad Blanton, a psychotherapist that states “...it keeps you locked in the jail of your own mind… truth is easier, takes less time… less stressful.” This shows that lying is mostly unjustified because although many people think lying is easier, it just makes it harder on yourself. It creates stress and fills your mind with guilt. In reality, it’s easier to deliver the truth to the person you lied to. In spite of this, many people still disagree with this argument. For example, in the article ”It’s the Truth: Americans Conflicted About Lying” by NBCNews they quote Bella DePaulo who studied about the phenomenon about lying and states ””People who say lying is wrong are often thinking in the abstract… we can’t always pick honesty without compromising some other value that might be as important”-like maintaining a happy relationship… partner is saying something you

In Ericsson’s article, the first two paragraphs discusses her own experiences with lying and how she had recently done so to help cope with the headaches of her daily life. In the second paragraph she says “When my partner came home, his haggard face told me his day hadn’t gone any better than mine, so when he asked ‘How was your day?’ I said, ‘Oh, fine’ knowing that one more straw might break his back.” In the case of her example, you can obviously tell she lied to help out her husband, but by doing so, she faces the fall out of the lie

Lying Can Be Acceptable "Telling a lie is associated with a variety of cognitive, behavioral, and physical effects" ("The Truth", 2017, p. 1). This statement indicates that there are outcomes that have to be faced when telling a lie. When an individual tells the truth, it simply strengthens relationships and aggrandizes them so the relationship cannot be torn apart. Life is easier because there is no need to explain a fib that was told. A lie has negative outcomes that will most likely come back to haunt the individual who told the lie.

An essential point to justify why lying is appropriate is when you need to protect others. Lying to protect others is a big part of military and intelligence officials’ jobs. In fact, “Military and intelligence officials will as a matter of routine lie to protect secret plans or agents at risk” (Time Magazine). Military and intelligence officials are an important part of protecting the society of a country.

The challenge with lies is that they are unstructured and thus hard to detect unless there is some form of inconsistency in them. This shows that lying can sometimes help individuals get out of trouble. For instance, if a spouse was cheating, telling the truth may be more damaging than telling a lie. This is one depiction of how lying saves people from escalating the situation.

Ever since the early age, we have taught that lying is wrong and hurts people including ourselves. Moreover, we also have educated that it is better to accept the consequences of my actions than to lie. However, the more we grow up, the more we know about using of lying because telling the truth cannot always solve the problem. From my point of view, some lying is acceptable, some is not. It depends upon what purposes that make people tell lies.