Lying

We have all told a white lie when we have done something wrong and we don’t want to face the consequences of our actions. Many people pull a ‘sicky’ to get out of work or going to school. Some people will lie so that they don’t hurt another person’s feelings e.g. when someone says do I look fat in this most people would say no even if they do. But when is a lie bad?

Some people think it is always bad to tell a lie, unless it’s a white lie. I think this perspective is right in most cases because when you lie over something big or wrong (e.g. cheating on your partner), you only end up telling more and more lies on top the one you told to cover yourself, and you will get found out in the end. “A liar should have a good memory” (BBC home page) I think this is a good statement because when you tell one lie to someone you need to make sure you tell the same lie the next time. If you lie, in most cases you need to tell another one on top of that, so eventually you need to remember all the lies so you’re not found out.

Many people hate that they have been lied too as it feels like an act of betrayal. So if we would have told the truth to start with their reaction might not have been so bad. It is hard to get someone’s trust back once it has been broken with a lie and if we didn’t have trust what would life be like constantly thinking you are being lie too. So why do we all still do it to one another?

Take a look at the BBC home page religion and ethics there is a good piece about lying and truth-telling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/lying/lying_1.shtml