Why People Lie
If anyone were to tell me that they have never told a lie in their life, I would think that they were…well…lying. We all tell them from time to time, but there are degrees of serious deceit. Why people lie depends on the circumstances. We tell ourselves that something is a little white lie and no harm done.
Is it best to always tell the truth, no matter what the situation? For example, a friend excitedly shows you the dress she has just bought and you think it is hideous. Telling an honest opinion may be cruel and she might be crushed.
Certain occupations have associations with lying. Why people lie seems obvious when applied to real estate agents. A tiny room becomes conveniently compact in their jargon. A rural idyll means it’s a crumbling building about to fall down. Politicians too have been caught out in a lie, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton being recent examples. They might argue that their lie was a small price to pay for the common good. Seeing the big picture is an often used excuse for people in high office to use.
Lying in wartime is dressed up as national security or necessary for keeping morale high. A censored media will have to own up eventually as to the truth of events. In fact, most untruths tend to come out in future years when they are revealed in the Freedom of Information act. The armed forces put out misinformation to mislead the enemy.
Thou shalt not lie is an Old Testament commandment but life gets complicated, as Jim Carey found out in Liar, Liar. Why people lie would seem a naïve question for a lawyer. Imagine if all lawyers told the absolute truth all of the time. Perhaps some genuine justice would shine through the immediate chaos it would cause.
I wonder what the world would be like if our noses grew every time we told a lie, just like in Pinocchio. I think that the good would outweigh the bad and people would consider their actions more carefully because they couldn’t get away with things any more. How many times have you been told that the check is in the mail? Yeah, right. So, why people lie is easy. It’s a form of self-protection; it’s for our own convenience. George Washington couldn’t lie and owned up to chopping down the cherry tree. Personally, my sympathy is with the tree. What did it ever do to him?
