Most of us like to think of ourselves as fairly honest people. When we do lie, we excuse ourselves. I know I do.
Is it ever OK to lie? I really think it is, although I could be wrong. If I were hiding a person from state aggression; because of issues involving ANY counterfeit "law" for example, I wouldn't think twice about lying in order to protect them. Lying to a liar in order to protect the innocent is the right thing to do, in my opinion. I have no problem lying to anyone in government anyway, as the entire organization is built on a foundation of lies and theft. You don't owe the state the truth when that truth will be used to rob or otherwise harm you or other people.
I will also lie to protect my friends from harm. I don't lie in order to hurt people, nor would I go along with the lies of another that are hurting some innocent person. I once had a disagreement with some good friends because they lied to another person and hurt her, and when she asked me about it I told her the truth. On several occasions I have had problems that result from lies others have told about me; where a third party thought I was lying because of the lies they were told about me. Because I didn't go along with the original lie, I was accused of being the liar, and was never able to totally clear my name. But that is just how it goes.
The truth is probably easier in the long run, even when it hurts someone right now. Unless you are facing the thugs of the state. In that case, do what your conscience tells you is right.
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That is a good blog...good points made indeed. I think I honestly...hehe..have the same viewpoints as you as far as protecting people. Jolly Good :)
ReplyDeleteKent,
ReplyDeleteSeems to me, in all honesty, that " to lie" is a deceptively simple verb. Too often, far too many people try to claim some sort of glorious sanctimony over being honest, when in fact it is virtually impossible to go through life that way.
I think that you are right, when you use a lie maliciously, it is clearly wrong, as is lying for personal gain-like fraud-but I see nothing wrong with protecting either someone's person, or just their feelings with deception.
I think this is one of those areas where there is no "objective" right and wrong to be had, outside of not starting violence-and even that is a matter of personal conscience(or a condition of civilized behavior.
This is actually one of my pet peeves-people trying to define morality in absolute terms, with no real basis. At best it is easily perverted(such as the supposedly "libertarian" "objectivists" who have become little more than war-mongers)and at worst it becomes a Religion.
Come to think of it, perhaps Ayn Rand had more in common with L. Ron Hubbard than with Frederic Bastiat?
Anyway, interesting thing to think about.