Yes. If your answer is going to hurt them eg.."Do you like my new haircut?". "Do I look fat?"
What benefit does it give them if you answer that you think they look terrible and fat!
Using a bit of wisdom will give rise to the most appropriate answer for the given situation. Perhaps the answer is in the question?
Thanks maddor, but I disagree and respect someone more if they tell the truth.
How can you respect someone if you don't know if they are telling you the truth or a lie..and what exactly is the truth? Surely it's subjective and based on perceptions formed from individual experiences?
No. Never!
I disagree with @maddot. When someone asks you a question like, "do I look fat?" you can answer them with "creation" instead of "perception." If you love a person, you can create them as beautiful. If they need to exercise, you can lead by example, rather than belittling them.
The president gets away with lying because he has a support mechanism called the Corporate Party media to cover his six. But he's also an accomplished salesman with an ability to take any question and not to answer it skillfully.
Obama has successfully shredded the Constitution when he promised to protect the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. He has a "kill list" which includes American citizens on it. No trial, no attorney, no recourse -- bang! you're dead by Executive Order! One American murdered by the president was 16 years old!
Obama said that the prisoners in Gitmo are to stay there even if found innocent! Hilarious! Tragic!
Obama has signed into law the NDAA with its indefinite detention clauses for American citizens. No charges, no attorney, no trial, no phone call.
Obama has signed into law a bill that makes it a felony to protest what the government is doing.
Sieg heil! Welcome to the new Hitler 2.0.
But it isn't Obama. It's the people behind Obama, Bush, Clinton and Romney.
It's the owners of the Corporate Party media. They continue to lie to protect their agenda.
They tell you that mercury in your vaccines is good for you. They tell you that fluorine poison is good in your drinking water. And yet children with autism has jumped from 1-in-5000 in 1987 to 1-in-166 in 2004.
They tell you that chemotherapy and radiation are good for cancer patients, when only a small percentage will survive more than 5 years from these cancer-causing "cures."
They tell you that debt is good and we have the biggest in human history at $16.3 Trillion and accelerating. The private Federal Reserve bank Ponzi scheme is about to pop. When it does, knowing that they've been lying to us won't matter any more. America will lie in shambles and people will beg for their next "solution" -- slavery.
For me, if it does no harm to anyone but good then it will be okay.
Sometimes, there will be lies but for a better good while others are harmful to people. It all depend on the outcome of the lies as whether it helps or makes things worst.
Thank you edhan - I think telling the lie always ends up harmful even when you have good intentions.
It might never be 'good' to tell a lie but I expect it is the better of two evils in quite a number of occassions. Tact when the truth isn't a necessary 'to know' might save a lot of suffering in the minds of the very sensitive. Moreover, often what we might regard as a lie might not be. A lot simply comes from how we think things are.
Of course, propaganda, as is used in wartime, is a lie, but is often thought to boost morale, e.g. "The German bomber raids on London were intense but casulties were light, the enemy losing twenty-bombers shot down whilst we lost only eleven fitghter planes and of these eight pilots were saved." This was supposed to make the beseiged Londoners feel better in World War Two. Just about everybody knew these were government told lies, but accepting them made people feel that much better.
Even when a lie isn't told it is often the truth fudged to make it sound better. For example, "There will be a negative economic growth of 10 percent," instead of the economy SHRUNK by 10 percent. "Unemployment is levelling off." It's leveled off at what?
Is it ever good to tell a lie...methinks sometimes it is.
Thank you Tusitala Tom. Very insightful comment. I like the name also.
No...................................................................................
Great answer MickS - short and sweet and to the point.
MickS: that's no answer...it lacks thought and insight and smacks of a reactionary thought process that's in need of some serious reflection. How's that for truth?
On the whole probably not. But since many of us are not that good at times, from getting a home truth across without badly hurting someone's feelings, then I don't think little white lies now and again do any harm, in fact the may help to salve some feelings. If we were always brutally truthful what would that do to many relationships? I find that people who say they never tell a lie must be very cold and perhaps cruel to other people at times!!
For me personally, yes I have told a few white lies over the years and the outcome was much better than if I had been brutally honest!
Thanks Seeker7 for you comment. Yeah, the little white lies make it easier on relationships I guess - but, I don't know the more I delve into my spiritual relationship with God I think a lie is a lie.
When it comes to appearance you can be tactful. Some people speak their mind anyway which is also OK. Tell it like it is vs having them continue with a bad haircut or are obese. tactful and nice does not always work. Examples, those $4 haircut joints, people who are drug abusers. tactful won't work.
Thank you ftclick. I think we get so caught up in what is offensive and politically correct that people are just too scared and intimidated to be honest. I say -TELL ME THE TRUTH!
This is a morale issue that we all have to deal with. I will give an example. I have a friend who prides himself on his ability to sing. He gets up every chance he gets and belts out a song or 2. Reality is he can't sing a bit but he enjoys it so much that I just tell him he sounded good. I don't feel a lie this tiny is going to do to much damage but if it was the guy was going to audition for a TV show or something along those natures I would be forced to tell him the truth so in a sense even little lies can catch up to us.
Thanks lorddraven200 - reminds me of all the nonsingers who go on American Idol and cuss out the judges who are honest with them.
Never. One lie will lead to another lie then another lie just to cover up the first lie. Nine times out of ten you are going to get caught eventually, then losing the trust of the person or persons that you have lied to. Honesty is always the best policy.
Great question ReneeDC1979. I have challenges with just answering questions sometimes. As writers we process that question with each word we write. Taking that process into social interactions may become very trying, can it not? I just read a hub on about absolute truths vs. moral relativism. which prompted me to attempt a meager answer at best.
When exploring I use a process called 'anti-thesis' when seeking a truth. In this case personally I would ask this seeking an answer - It is ever bad to tell a lie? The obvious answer with generalities is 'yes' to that question.
Next, I seek value and worth. Is there ever value to tell a lie? I can answer this for 'self,' however I can not answer for others. Now, Is there worth to tell a lie? Again, I can answer for 'self' and not for others.
In an attempt to answer the proposed question I used for 'self' synonyms for good. Again, I defer to 'self' asking the next question seeking an answer. Is there a return from telling a lie and is that return good or bad?
Example: (Life Experience) I am visiting a co-worker. That co-worker is showing signs of depression and further displays this with both feelings and emotions. Not, being an expert in behavior, a novice, the solution to offering a remedy is promote a smile and maybe laughter - a shot of serotonin, maybe some epinephrine, and maybe dopamine too.
So, I spy that co-workers favorite candy bar on the desk - a 3 Musketeers bar. Quickly, I say "look over there another darn mouse again." That co-worker turns with a tinge of fear - epinephrine is administered, seeking to see. I grab the candy bar stick it behind the monitor.
The co-worker turns around noticing the candy bar is gone. Since that co-worker knows me well, I am accused of stealing it. Yet, it is done with a wonderful smile and followed by laughter. Cajoling and batter ensue and soon laughter is flourishing - serotonin and dopamine is administered.
Oddly, a glimmer appears in the once sullen eyes and the face is slightly flushed as the circulation increases oxygenation as both respectful and innocent flirtation occurs. Feelings and emotions are heightened as a sense of belonging occurs.
Finally, the co-worker says, "Get back to your office, I have work to do and give me my candy bar." Laughter again ensues while that co-worker focuses on the paperwork on the desk. Oddly, that co-worker glances an eye upward and says, "you turkey."
The crux is a lie was told . . .
Telling a lie might not ever be good, but it will certainly be acceptable by any standard if telling a lie will save your life, or someone elses' life, in an emergency or a dangerous situation.
To save a life, yes.
To save one's pride, no.
To prevent major property damage, maybe.
To prevent major embarrassment, no.
by Greg Johnson 12 years ago
Is it ever right to tell a lie?
by rikabothra 7 years ago
Hi everyone,Here's a thought...We have been taught to speak the truth, but it is right to do so in the cost of hurting/harming someone? Especially if that someone is a person we care for? It is one of the biggest dilemmas, what do you think?
by Grace Marguerite Williams 12 days ago
Trump has become the 47th President. Now, the hatred has escalated to full force. There are those who has an unfounded, phobic fear that Trump will turn America into a dictatorship. There are some who even believe, baited by MSNBC, CNN, & other left leaning media outlets, that Trump...
by Angela Michelle Schultz 5 years ago
My daughter is going through a phase where she is lying a lot. It's not about big stuff, and she's pretty honest about if she does wrong things. But she will lie to try to get her way. I am trying to figure out how to get over this hump.
by sushant143 12 years ago
Why we afraid to tell the truth ??
by chelseacharleston 6 years ago
Are liars completely unemotionally available?
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