• Home
  • RELIGION IS NOT. . .PART I
  • THE SEARCHER-SEEKER

Searcher-Seeker

Musings of a lifelong searcher-seeker

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« LYING-TWO PERSPECTIVES, PART I. . .
LYING-TWO PERSPECTIVES, PART III. . . »

LYING-TWO PERSPECTIVES, PART II. . .

June 3, 2018 by Searcher Seeker

…officious lies, as well as all others, are an abomination to the God of Truth. –John Wesley

This morning, Gentle Reader, we will briefly explore ‘Lying’ from the perspective of the deceived.

Most of us humans who learn that they have been lied to when it comes to something they deem important experience the pain of betrayal and become resentful, disappointed and suspicious; trust is bent, broken or shattered.  They also look back on past interactions with a questioning attidue.

The manipulation of the lie, they come to see, kept them from making informed choices; they were, in effect, unable to choose actions that they would have chosen had they not been lied to.

It is true, Gentle Reader, that personal, informed choice is not the only kind available to them.  They may decide to abandon choosing for themselves and let the other(s) decide for them – think: guardians, advisors or elected officials.  They may even decide to abandon choice based upon information of a conventional nature and trust/rely instead on the movement of the stars or by throwing dice against a wall or to seek out soothsayers or oracles (of course, these last two folks never provide us with direct answers and as a result a great deal of bother has occurred – both history and great literature reminds us, over and over again).

One’s alternatives ought to be personally chosen and not surreptitiously imposed by lies or other forms of manipulation.  I still believe that most of us humans would resist loss of control over which choices we want to delegate to others and this requires that we are aided by the best information available to us (think of the power of ‘fake news’ and its impact upon our freedom to choose).

Experience has taught us, continues to teach us, the consequences when others choose to deceive us – even for ‘our own good.’

What about the ‘trivial lies’?  Well, we know that many lies are trivial AND we also know that we have no way to judge, in the moment, which lies are trivial and which are not.  Add to this that we have no confidence that liars will restrict themselves to telling trivial lies, we, over time, become wary of all deception or worse, we assume deception will occur (think: How many of us trust the words of the politician seeking our vote).

Now I can hear someone saying: But only one person was lied to.  Consider that though only one person was lied to that many others might well be harmed as a result.  Recently an elected official – a Mayor – was lied to about the quality of the drinking water and as a result many people suffered when they drank contaminated water.

The perspective of the deceived is shared by all of those who experience the consequences of the lie – whether or not they have been lied to.

We need both knowledge and freedom to choose and to act if we are going to be able to make informed decisions.  Paradoxically, or is it ironically, the liar would agree with this (ask any politician and he or she would agree with this).  Deception – lying – denies the one being deceived of both: knowledge and freedom to choose.

Deception can be – often is – coercive.  When it succeeds the deceiver becomes more powerful.  Thus, it is clearly unreasonable to assert that people should be able to lie with impunity whenever they want to do so.  To up the ante, it would be unreasonable, as well, to assert such a right even in the more restricted circumstances where the liars claim a ‘good reason’ for lying.

This is especially true because lying so often accompanies every ‘other’ form of wrongdoing, from murder to bribery to tax fraud to theft of all kinds.

In refusing to condone such a right to decide when to lie and when not to, we are therefore trying to protect ourselves against lies which help to execute or cover up all other wrongful acts.

For this reason, the perspective of the deceived supports the statement by Aristotle: Falsehood is in itself mean and culpable, and truth noble and full of praise.

Consider this, Gentle Reader, that there is an initial imbalance in the evaluation of truth-telling and lying.  Lying requires a ‘reason,’ while truth-telling does not.  ‘Lying’ must be excused; reasons must be produced, in any one case, to show why a particular lie is not ‘mean and culpable.’

This leads us to the question: What about the perspective of the Liar?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized |

  • Recent Posts

    • SURGERY
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART VI
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART V
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART IV
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART III 
  • Archives

    • November 2022 (8)
    • October 2022 (12)
    • September 2022 (8)
    • August 2022 (12)
    • July 2022 (8)
    • June 2022 (15)
    • May 2022 (15)
    • April 2022 (15)
    • March 2022 (15)
    • February 2022 (13)
    • January 2022 (13)
    • December 2021 (15)
    • November 2021 (10)
    • October 2021 (13)
    • September 2021 (10)
    • August 2021 (14)
    • July 2021 (13)
    • June 2021 (15)
    • May 2021 (15)
    • April 2021 (14)
    • March 2021 (15)
    • February 2021 (14)
    • January 2021 (14)
    • December 2020 (14)
    • November 2020 (16)
    • October 2020 (14)
    • September 2020 (15)
    • August 2020 (12)
    • July 2020 (14)
    • June 2020 (13)
    • May 2020 (12)
    • April 2020 (12)
    • March 2020 (11)
    • February 2020 (12)
    • January 2020 (13)
    • December 2019 (11)
    • November 2019 (12)
    • October 2019 (14)
    • September 2019 (11)
    • August 2019 (12)
    • July 2019 (10)
    • June 2019 (11)
    • May 2019 (12)
    • April 2019 (15)
    • March 2019 (13)
    • February 2019 (14)
    • January 2019 (10)
    • December 2018 (12)
    • November 2018 (10)
    • October 2018 (10)
    • September 2018 (7)
    • August 2018 (9)
    • July 2018 (12)
    • June 2018 (10)
    • May 2018 (8)
    • April 2018 (11)
    • March 2018 (12)
    • February 2018 (13)
    • January 2018 (12)
    • December 2017 (10)
    • November 2017 (11)
    • October 2017 (13)
    • September 2017 (14)
    • August 2017 (12)
    • July 2017 (12)
    • June 2017 (14)
    • May 2017 (14)
    • April 2017 (14)
    • March 2017 (14)
    • February 2017 (12)
    • January 2017 (13)
    • December 2016 (15)
    • November 2016 (15)
    • October 2016 (12)
    • September 2016 (12)
    • August 2016 (13)
    • July 2016 (9)
    • June 2016 (14)
    • May 2016 (14)
    • April 2016 (14)
    • March 2016 (15)
    • February 2016 (14)
    • January 2016 (15)
    • December 2015 (15)
    • November 2015 (15)
    • October 2015 (15)
    • September 2015 (15)
    • August 2015 (13)
    • July 2015 (11)
    • June 2015 (13)
    • May 2015 (11)
    • April 2015 (15)
    • March 2015 (15)
    • February 2015 (13)
    • January 2015 (16)
    • December 2014 (14)
    • November 2014 (15)
    • October 2014 (14)
    • September 2014 (12)
    • August 2014 (10)
    • July 2014 (13)
    • June 2014 (11)
    • May 2014 (14)
    • April 2014 (14)
    • March 2014 (16)
    • February 2014 (13)
    • January 2014 (14)
    • December 2013 (14)
    • November 2013 (14)
    • October 2013 (14)
    • September 2013 (13)
    • August 2013 (14)
    • July 2013 (16)
    • June 2013 (13)
    • May 2013 (23)
    • April 2013 (29)
    • March 2013 (31)
    • February 2013 (28)
    • January 2013 (31)
    • December 2012 (29)
    • November 2012 (30)
    • October 2012 (31)
    • September 2012 (30)
    • August 2012 (31)
    • July 2012 (31)
    • June 2012 (30)
    • May 2012 (31)
    • April 2012 (30)
    • March 2012 (31)
    • February 2012 (16)
  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 45 other subscribers

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Searcher-Seeker
    • Join 45 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Searcher-Seeker
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: