Posted on 01/18/2013 7:05:13 PM PST by Olog-hai
Lance Armstrong may have been branded liar and cheat of the month, but experts say he's not as different from the rest of us as wed like to believe. Lying, they say, is part of the human condition, something most people do every day. And thats reflected in the cavalcade of celebrities cowed into confession after their deceptions were exposedfrom Richard Nixons denial of the Watergate break-in to Bill Clintons denial of an affair with an intern, from drug-abusing baseball players to fraudulent Wall Street executives.
Lying is extraordinarily common and we couldnt get along without it, says David Livingstone Smith, a professor of philosophy at the University of New England in Maine, and author of the book Why We Lie. It greases the wheels of society. Lying, Smith says, is as automatic and unconscious as sweating. He points out that parents teach children at an early age that its OK to lie, just not to me. Kids are told to pretend to be grateful for a Christmas gift they dont want. And they witness their parents lyingabout the tooth fairy, and the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.
Wise people throughout history have understood that lying and deception is part of life, Smith says: There is no commandment that says thou shalt not lie, though there is a commandment against bearing false witness.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
>> Lying is extraordinarily common and we couldnt get along without it, says David Livingstone Smith
DON’T BELIEVE A THING THIS GUY SAYS.
Yeah, you know, every time I lie it costs other people millions of dollars and championships as well. /s
So they expect me to believe them?
We didn’t do the whole Santa Claus, Easter Bunny thing with our kids for just this reason. I couldn’t look my kids in the eye and lie to them. They’re all adults now, love Christmas and have no problem with our not playing the Santa Claus game. People used to tell me we were taking all the fun out of Christmas, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
No harm, no foul.
Sigh....Nixon never denied the Watergate break-in. I wonder how old this guy is.
This is the same stuff state-controlled media was saying about Clinton in the “I did not have sex with that woman” era.
This is article is BS!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with 3 Victoria Secret supermodels who will also be showing the latest lingerie line in a private suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel later tonight...
Certainly not the expert on deception he claims to be. Maybe an expert on self-deception?
I'm lying to you - Spock
There is some credence to what he says in general. You have to look at the motivation behind the lie and the age and experience of the individual as well as the circumstances. Some lies are told not to hurt the feelings of others while others are told for gain / profit or to outright decieve so the answer isn’t black and white because there is a wide spectrum. As you get older and more experienced you learn there are consequences to lying; damage to your reputation, harming others, lack of trust, etc... You also learn that you can just tell it like it is and not feel embarrassed about something that you may have told a white lie. It’s the human condition; we are not robots and were born into sin, however if the government can get people to feel guilt about it and regulate it they can figure out to turn a profit from it. Don’t buy into bs liberal ideaologies and news articles. There’s always a hook...
Forgot to mention I’m an investigator and lied to on a regular basis...
This is BS with an agenda. Sure, if someone asks me how I'm doing, I might say "I'm fine" even if I'm anything but.
However, if someone knows better and says so, I don't think I'll tell the world they're lying about me and then sue them, only to later cry to Oprah how they were telling the truth all along.
Speaking of liars, what is the real intent of the author of this article?
You mean....you mean.....There is no Santa Rabbit? Well, there’s another childhood memory shot in the donkey.
OK; to give testimony is to provide evidence in court to facts.
How is that different than bearing witness?
I believe the intent of the commandment is that one is not to give false evidence to a court and I have heard biblical scholars say as much.
We all tell ‘white lies’, I sure don’t want to tell someone their new baby is ugly. But - Armstrong told lies for his own glory and gain, and that makes it very wrong.
"Forget the truth! LIES keep you together! LIES enhance your relationship, they enhance your love..."
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