Monday, July 21, 2008

to lie or not to lie, that is the question

TO LIE OR NOT TO LIE THAT IS THE QUESTION . . .

Scarcely an hour passes before some mass TV talking head, talk radio personality or print media pundit is not shouting about someone lying. Why is that and why should we even care…? Are there degrees of lies, a little “white” lie vs. a “big” lie…? What constitutes lying, do we know and do we even care…? Is the word shouted so often as to have become rhetorical…?

Is a lie the same as a gross misjudgment or misstatement…? Is a lie equated as with calm assurance “skirting” the issue or dodging the question…? Is lying formulated in our ancestral DNA gene pool or is it the result of exposure to our environment…? Is development of the art of lying a learned response…?

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me there’s a lot of lying going on in our society…? And I am fully aware that depending upon how one chooses to define lying, I sure I am guilty of lying.

Part of me wants to make those little “white” lies each of us most likely have engaged in some point in our life, acceptable and not held to the same meticulous standard as the “big” lie. But, really it’s all part and parcel to how “we” – that’s you and I choose to define the word – lie – and the emotion and connotation we place on it.

§ Are Realtors lying when they state …. “This is the most fabulous view from anywhere in Arizona” … to their prospective buyer….?
§ Is the car salesman lying when he states publicly … “you won’t get a better deal anywhere” … to his prospective client…?
§ Is the Sunday Preacher lying when he states … “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." … ?
§ Is a President of the United States lying when he states he has irrefutable proof that Iraq has WMD’s and they are aimed at the USA…?
§ Is a Governor of Arizona lying when she states she has been to Iraq and from her highly secured vantage point concluded that “progress” is being made….?
§ Is the Director of ADEQ lying when he has his minions report to the public he does not have the authority the demand more testing of sewage effluent…?
§ Is ADWR lying to us with their vaunted 100 year assured water supply certificates….?

Are there shades, colors, textures, overtones and perspectives which influence what “we” choose to label as lying…?

Does lying fall into that category comprising “shades of gray” … or … “splitting of hairs” ..?

And, just what does that mean anyway..?

Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home