Category: Lying

Everyone knows that what the Bible says goes, well for the most part. In fact, you would think that as much as religion rules our society we would follow it more than we actually like to think we do. Everyone interprets the word religion differently. We interpret the words to what we think will make ourselves look better in the eyes of religion. Knowing that we will never reach the level of perfection as the sole purpose of whatever religion it may be. It leaves us with a lifelong goal to be accepted into whatever “other side” one believes in, so it’s only right that we as humans pick and push our limits as to what we think are sins that shouldn’t be committed at all to sins we think might allow a slight overlook.

The 10 commandments otherwise known as an outline of what we were supposed to follow versus the current things we do as a society today are of course on very different scales than anticipated but on the contrary, there are a couple of points that still seem to be holding up. For starters swearing makes an appearance in both, the Ten Commandments state that there should be no cursing in the name of the lord while current norms just state that there should be no cursing coming from kids. The current norms believe that we should be good neighbors as does the 10 commandments stating that one shall not bear false witness against one’s neighbor. Another thing they share is that one shall honor their father as well as their mother said the Ten Commandments while current norms say that people should respect their elders in general rather than be parents or grown-ups or grandparents. Something else similar is that one shall not covet or want anything that may be their neighbor from the Ten Commandments Which is similar to love all around the world no matter where one may be, unselfish and clean traits come from both. As may be expected relationships fall into both in some sort of way, the Ten Commandments Believe that one shall not commit adultery while current norms say that lying is bad now if you think about it lying plays a big part in adultery so indeed these two things would go hand in hand. Now for the fun part the differences as expected. The Ten Commandments Believe that there shall only be one god worshiped while current norms tend to follow more than one god or no god at all. The Commandments believe that a person shall not steal but of course, society knows all too well about theft as it seems to happen almost every day. The Commandments also say that one shall not commit murder, we know current norms threw that whole idea away as mass murders and killings have become all too frequent these days. Society these days has everyone trying to fix their body to what this day in age thinks it should be but the Commandments think otherwise by believing one shall not make themselves a sculptured image. Lastly remembering sabbath day and keeping it holy is what the Commandments Believe but to this current age is anything ever really holy anymore?

In my opinion, the Commandments will be very different from what other people believe. I think the first one simply means that people should only have one god. The second one is that a person shall not change who they are and become fake or enhanced. The third one is that a person shouldn’t use God’s name in vain or surround it with profanity. The fourth is that sabbath day shouldn’t be forgotten and that it should be kept clean and as a peaceful day. The fifth is that bluntly people should respect their parents. The sixth is that of course killing is indeed bad and it shouldn’t be done out of cold blood. The seventh is that cheating on your partner, especially in marriage is bad. The eighth is that people shouldn’t steal or take things that aren’t theirs. The ninth is that we should look out for our neighbors and not lie to them. Finally, the tenth is that we shouldn’t desire or crave something that our neighbors have and that we don’t.

Murder of course will always for the most part be wrong in everyone’s eyes. So wrong that in fact there are laws of course that speak upon it. U.S. code § 1111. Murder states that “(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in wait, or any other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing; or committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, any arson, escape, murder, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse, child abuse, burglary, or robbery; or perpetrated as part of a pattern or practice of assault or torture against a child or children; or perpetrated from a premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human being other than him who is killed, is murder in the first degree.

Any other murder is murder in the second degree.

Within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,

Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for life;

Whoever is guilty of murder in the second degree, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life.

For purposes of this section—

1. The term “assault” has the same meaning as given that term in section 113;
2. 1. under the perpetrator’s care or control; or
   2. at least six years younger than the perpetrator; The term “child” means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years and is—
3. The term “child abuse” means intentionally or knowingly causing death or serious bodily injury to a child;
4. The term “pattern or practice of assault or torture” means assault or torture engaged in on at least two occasions;
5. The term “serious bodily injury” has the meaning set forth in section 1365; and
6. The term “torture” means conduct, whether or not committed under the color of law, that otherwise satisfies the definition set forth in section 2340(1).

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 756; Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1004, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2138; Pub. L. 99–646, § 87(c)(4), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3623; Pub. L. 99–654, § 3(a)(4), Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3663; Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, § 7025, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4397; Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, § 60003(a)(4), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1969; Pub. L. 108–21, title I, § 102, Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 652.)” This law clearly encourages one of the Commandments which includes the idea of murder.

Sins are all bad. At Least they should be. Sins were created for us humans to ultimately commit through temptations. Not anyone on this earth or planet can say they haven’t committed at least one sin. Hey, we’ve all committed sins let’s admit it, but that’s the problem right there. It’s so hard to admit that we’ve committed sins and gone against the word of the Bible. I mean we all know they’re wrong and we all know that everyone has committed them. However, society has made it so that everyone is afraid to admit that they’ve committed sins. It’s simply because all sins aren’t weighed the same or even interpreted the same. All sins are offensive but of course, the level of offense has been created by what man thinks, and not just one man but everyone that isn’t perfect and that’s just about everyone who’s living and breathing on earth. We see sins based on how we would want the world to see us. We want to seem as perfect or as near as perfect as we possibly can for the simple goal that most people have or share which is some type of better afterlife. To some people lying might not even be a real sin Versus murder or especially murder to one’s self which seems to some to be the ultimate gateway to whatever one considers hell. Religion purposely doesn’t rank which sins are the worst because to religion they all are on equal ranks. It is Mankind that has ranked the sins from most evil to least over the years though. We will continue to commit sins regardless, it can not be stopped and won’t stop anytime soon. As it is the sacrifice that religion had made for us to even be here.

I think that the sin of lying best embodies the American society that we live in today. For the simple fact that everyone lies. Everyone has and will continue to lie because it’s just a part of its history. We’ve been lying for so long that I don’t think it could possibly ever stop. We’ve engulfed it so much that everyone does it. Rather it’s to protect feelings or to better ourselves we do it. Deceiving will forever be a part of American history and it will probably stay that way until its end.

I think out of all ten of the Commandments remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy is probably the easiest. I feel like that because it’s not something that we have to remember every single day and that since it only appears once it shouldn’t be that hard to keep it holy and keep its legacy going. However, I feel like not desiring what one’s neighbor has is probably the hardest. For the simple fact that in order for there to be any change in the world we have to see someone else doing something or having something we don’t so that we make or attempt to make something that’s better so that we can not only get what they have but surpass what they have. A jealous trait is just embedded into every person and that’s just what it simply is. So I think that would be the hardest for people.

Bibliography Page

1. U.S. Code § 1111. Murder. n.d. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1111#liinav
2. C, R. (2017). Regular Things The Bible Bans But We Still Do. Retrieved from http://www.horizontimes.com/popular/10-regular-things-bible-bans-still

Even telling the littlest lie can get you in the most trouble in the future, yes at the time you get away with it but what makes you think if that lie comes out would anyone believe you when you finally try telling the truth.

Everyone should just stop lying. Tell the truth, whether it’s bad or not. Keeping an honest relationship is better thanks to having a dishonest one. Study shows the average person lies once or twice a day. Everyone starts lying at the age of two. Also, a big misconception about liars is they all have shifty eyes.

When we lie, it stimulates three main sections of our brains. “Lying activates the frontal lobe for its role in the truth-suppressing process. The limbic system due to the stress that comes with betrayal and the lobe because it’s responsible for recovering memories and creating a mental representation.” “People that have a good relationship have physical and mental health.” Lying affects health, but lying is thought to trigger the release of stress hormones, it also increases emotion and stress.

Some parents withhold the truth in an effort to protect their kids, they are actually decreasing the trust level in the home. They are giving the green light for them to start lying. When parents lie to their kids, I have to wonder whether their lying to protect themselves or their kids. Making the people around them feeling like they’re unimportant or irrelevant, and no one wants to feel this way.

“According to the Hebrew Bible, the ninth of God’s Ten Commandments instructs that no person shall bear false witness against their neighbor.” in other words you shouldn’t lie. Sure, you don’t need to have faith in a higher power to understand that telling untruths is both foolish and immoral. You may even find you need to tell a second lie to avoid being found out for the first one.

Growing up me and my sisters would fight all the time. We use to try everything to get each other in trouble. My mom would just punish all of us because she would never know who was lying and who was telling the truth. We would be grounded until someone came clean or until my mother knew that we were just doing it to get each other mad. Everyone has a story about lying growing up. Some might be worst than others.

Lying can be a noun and an adjective. As a noun lying is defined as the telling of lies, or false statements, untruthfulness. When lying is an adjective it is the telling or containing lies; deliberately untruthful; deceitful; false (Lying). Words that relate to this would be misleading, two faced, unreliable, fibbing, and mendacious. There are also multiple kinds of lying, perjury, minimization, exaggeration, white lies, fabrication, denial, omission, and restructuring. Every one of us lies every few minutes, lying has reached a point of threatening the foundations of society (¨Different Types of Lies¨).

If someone tells you something that is not the truth, it is lie of commission. You’re twisting the truth to create a favorable version of something. Another lie is one where you leave out a part of information, lie of omission (¨Different Types of Lies¨). In this lie someone omits, or leaves out, important information from a statement. These take little effort from the person who is lying, and can be hard to spot. Sometimes people will tell you a lie to cover up a lie. This is called a character lie. These lies are meant to make you believe the liar and whatever they are saying (¨Different Types of Lies¨).

The word lie to me means withholding information that keeps you from a truth (¨Lie¨ The Word Detective). Lying reminds me of a fox, it is very noticeable once you find it but will stay hidden and get past you quickly if you aren’t looking for it. Foxes can be brightly colored, but they are also small, fast, and good at hiding. Lies can be obvious once you spot it, like seeing a bright red fox before it runs off, but until you do it will stay hidden. Lying also is like the color purple, it comes in many different shades, but they are all still purple. Pastel or light purples can be calming, or vibrant and bright purples can be noticeable and obvious. Lies come in many shades as well, there are big lies and small lies, but all are still lying. Lying can have a good effect like hiding your friends surprise party. Lying can also have a vibrant effect, noticeable and loud which usually ends up getting found out, an obvious example of this would be lying on a polygraph test. Some shades of purple can also be mistaken for a different color, some purples look like blue or even pink. Lies can also be mistaken. Lies could be taken as a truth or leaving out part of a story can be taken as a whole truth when neither of them are.

Lying plays a part in everyone’s lives. In a personal experience, family members have lied to each other. Some of these instances have ended in a surprise party, which is usually pleasant, but some have ended in family members being taken out of school due to over exaggerating thing or saying untruthful comments that end up with them getting into trouble. Lying can have a life changing effect on some people. Relationships end, whether it be a marriage or friendship they can end poorly from withholding the truth or telling untruthful comments.

Lying has a place in everyone’s lives whether it be good or bad. Lying also becomes a different part of speech depending on how you use it, there are also different types of lies that are used frequently. It can be related to an obvious but sly fox or a shade of purple, as it can be mistaken for a truth, hide well, or be something you see immediately. It has been something used for many years and it will continue to be used weather to better people’s lives or to worsen them.

References

1. Mark L. Knapp ¨Encyclopedia of Human Relationships (Vol. 1).¨ Sage Publication, Inc. 2009 https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.frederick.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CCX3207700138&docType=Topic+overview&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GVRL&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3207700138&searchId=R1&userGroupName=fred30208&inPS=true Accessed 26 Feb, 2020
2. II, Dallas G Denery. “The True History of Lying.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 28 Jan. 2015, www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-true-history-of-lying-i.2081531Accessed20 Feb, 2020
3. “Different Types of Lies.” Science of People, 2 Nov. 2017, www.scienceofpeople.com/different-types-lies/. Accessed 2 Feb,2020
4. “Lie.” The Word Detective, www.word-detective.com/2009/07/lie/ Accessed 20 Feb, 2020
5. “Lying.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/lying. Accessed 20 Feb, 2020

From telling a friend that their dish is delicious, to falsely blaming absences on a busy schedule, lying has always been a natural response during uncomfortable situations. In “Learning to Lie” by Po Bronson and “Is Lying Bad for Us?” by Richard Gunderman, the authors delve into some of the reasons behind lying and how lying impacts people. Both articles share a negative sentiment towards lying but differ slightly in their view of the causes of lying.

Gunderman and Bronson both agree that lying has negative repercussions. Dr. Victoria Talwar, an expert on children’s lying behavior, says that children are more likely grow into lying than they are to grow out of it (qtd. in Bronson 549). With this information, Bronson shows that the more often children lie, the more habitual lying becomes to them. As a result, when they find themselves entangled in other problems, especially those in which they are at fault, their natural response for handling those situations is to lie. Gunderman shows the negative effects of lying by using a study that compared a group of people who were told to lie, and another group that was not told to. What the researchers found was that the people who told fewer lies reported less complaints of headaches and feeling tense (559). With this, it shows that the guilt and repressed feelings that come with deception are harmful to people’s health. So, the constant use of lying has negative impacts because it turns lying into a habit and is strenuous on people’s mental and physical health.

Another idea both authors share is that people should not lie. Gunderman argues it is necessary for people to know the truth because lying tends to “distort our own view of reality” (560). By telling the truth, people avoid the illusions that dishonesty creates and can perceive what is truly happening around them. Not lying is how people will be able to live, what Gunderman calls, authentic lives (561). Bronson shows that people should not lie by using an example of the relationships between parents and their children. Researchers interviewed teenagers in Pennsylvania and found that families that were truthful with each other also had more arguments (Bronson 554). Though verbal disagreements were more frequent, family members were able to better understand each other because they voiced their honest feelings. On the other hand, if teenagers lied and withheld information from their parents, it would not only build distrust, but also distance them from their parents. Overall, people should not lie because it taints their perception and damages their relationships.

Gunderman believes that people lie for selfish reasons. In his essay, Gunderman mentions that some people avoid hotel same-day cancellation fees by lying that they need the reservation moved to a later date, and then cancel their newly made reservation (559). In this example, Gunderman shows that people selfishly lie to the hotel so they can avoid having to pay a fee. There are also people who use lies to manipulate others for more daring purposes, like wealth, power, and status.

Bronson does not disagree with Gunderman. In fact, Bronson gives an example by using a scenario of a three-year-old boy who lies about hitting his sister (549). In this case, the boy realizes that if he admits any wrongdoing, he will be punished. So, to protect himself from getting into trouble, he tells a lie. However, Bronson thinks selfishness is only partially why people lie. He argues that people also lie because they are taught to at a young age. Bronson talks about how parents instruct their child to “swallow all his honest reactions and put on a polite smile” when opening gifts (552). In cases like these, parents are unintentionally teaching their children to lie. With their parents encouraging these lies, children then continue to lie in similar circumstances because it is what they have been taught is the right thing to do. Both authors agree that people lie out of selfishness, but Bronson also argues that people lie because it is instilled in them from a young age.

The articles show that Bronson and Gunderman have different opinions about why people lie, but they both agree that lying has negative repercussions and should not be done at all. However, because of how common lying has become, it leaves the impression that perhaps these ideas are just that: ideas that will not be enforced in society due to the normalcy that has become of lying.

Lies are crafted to fulfill different purposes. The intention behind a lie is the dictating factor to the moral standing of the lie. Although the result of a lie is important, it can often be uncontrollable. There are several categories of lies classified by its use. Many of us lie everyday with the motive to protect others; these types of lies will fall into the category of protective lies. Facades are lies used to mask one’s true self from others. But is there a middle ground to this?

Lying is considered bad as a trait, but some lies are beneficial and told for the greater good. People lie for all sorts of reasons, but the most common is simply to help get a personal benefit. Lies are not just one sentence remarks. They can include our actions over a period of time. People put on a public illusion that portrays a different personality. Lying becomes dangerous in a multitude of ways,If you tell somebody a lie, you have to be able to remember exactly what you told them. If ever you forget the lie you told, there is a chance that you’ll contradict yourself later on and subsequently get caught. You may even find you need to tell a second lie to avoid being found out for the first one. Telling numerous lies obviously means even more remembering. Before you know it, you may find yourself tangled in an intricate web of drama and deceit. When you get caught lying, people tend to also mistrust you from that point forward. If you lie habitually, people will become especially wary of you. There may come a point in time when nobody believes anything you have to say, even though you may actually be telling the truth. This leads to a person gaining a bad reputation to even losing relationships with other people

But when can lies be good? There are also a bunch of scenarios where lying is good and can be good for you and the people around you. A few white lies around the office aren’t the end of the world. In fact, they may even boost your productivity. Telling an overbearing boss that you’re doing a project on his or her exact schedule, when, in fact, you’re working on a timeline that works better for you, can help you appease the powers that be while allowing you to prioritize your own skills and needs. Lying isn’t just telling tall tales. Lies of omission can actually improve your friendships. If your friend has been hard at work on a diet for a year but you can’t see the results, telling them they look great will still make them feel good. Sometimes, being kind is better than being completely honest.

A lie I tell myself often helps me keep on pace with my goals is self delusion. For example, whether I tell myself that my10 minutes at the gym was a great effort or that starting to save money tomorrow instead of years ago is just as good, helps keep me on track instead of making me feel like I’m not doing well or falling behind.

Human has an aptitude to lie and that is one of the most common faults that we all have probably done. I cannot say that I have never lied before, but I cannot also justify that it resulted in any good. There was this time in my high school years when I lied to a friend when she asked me whether her art project is good or not. Despite knowing that something about that project is missing and it is not even close enough to the word okay I still said: “Yes, it’s good”. The day after that, when our teacher returned our project, it surprises her that she got a lower score. Little did I know that she expected a number higher than that because I intentionally said that her project was good when I know for a fact that it is not, and she trusts me with my opinion. On that same day, she said to me that she is never going to ask me again about that kind of stuff because I intend to agree and always say yes to avoid getting their feelings hurt or making me look like a superior. That drew me to believe that lying does not do any good regardless the intentions but instead it can only cause harm to people and their relationship by disregarding the essence and importance of honesty.

Timothy R. Levine said that people lie when honesty would not work. In his Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, he concluded that 44% of people lie for self-promotion and that includes economic advantage, personal advantage, self-impression, and humor. While 36% lie for the purpose of self-protection and another 11% and 9% for impacting others and unclear reasons respectively. According to the report conducted by the National Registry Exonerations, 68.3% or 571 of 836 homicide exonerations are the cause of perjury or false accusation. An example to that is the recent issue about Michael Cohen (US lawyer) who intentionally lied to the Congress about the construction of Trump Tower in Moscow and was declared for 36 months imprisonment after being pleaded guilty for various violations such as in campaign finance and evasion of tax. It only proves that lying does not always cause damage to the person being lied to but also to the person lying. Lying for religious people mean misusing God-given gift of human communication.

Speech is said to be meant for accurately sharing thoughts and lying do the opposite. It corrupts the liars’ mind in a way that one lie is followed by endless counts of another lie until it became their habit and be comfortable with the wrong-doing. Furthermore, it diminishes trust between human beings and causes people to develop trust issues. It will be very hard for them to trust if they constantly hear lies about them or the surrounding people. On the contrary, there are instances when lying is said to be good or acceptable and we call it the “white lies”. This is where we lie to spare the feelings of others or to prevent them from experiencing psychological harm just as what happened to me in the story I’ve said earlier. But why does it still put me in a bad position if it is called white lies? In a research conducted by Levine and Scheweitzer identifying when lying is considered immoral. The results show that people lie to help another person, while lying had no exact effect on the person being lied to. In the paper, Levine and Scheweitzer said that even if people lie they are still considered moral and honest if their intentions are selfless. But, Levine point it out on the end of their research that there are a lot of lies that are harmful and just plain wrong. He makes it clear in the end that people tell lies for that does not benefit anyone but them.

Lying is what makes us human but we should critically think when or where lying is the best thing or the right thing to do. We should start considering the consequences of our actions and treat everyone equally to avoid being bias to your sake. We are all going to lie for once in our lives but at least try to balance the impact, or the effects it will cause to you and to that specific person. In conclusion, I agree with Deontologist in their beliefs regarding moral thinking on general universal laws that an act can only be justified as right or wrong act regardless of the result. So, even if lying will produce a good consequence it is still considered morally wrong and should be avoided as possible.

There are times when lying is better than telling the truth since lies are reflections of reality that people cannot handle. One would instead choose to believe in illusions than the truth because human beings tend to decide to remain ignorant to prevent pain and would struggle to comprehend the complexity of the meaning of truth that if they were granted the chance, they would become distressed. Moreover, if their perspective of reality is then presented with alternate facts that go against their beliefs, they would merely disregard it and fight anyone to keep their realties intact since it is much easier and a more comfortable way of living. Both Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On Truth and Lie in the Extra-Moral Sense” and Miguel de Unamuno’s novel “Saint Manuel Bueno, Martyr,” reveal the complexity and the many limitations the desire of truth has when lying can instead be useful by creating a sense of accountability.

Therefore, if people are incapable of accepting such burden it would still be an honest act if a person then decides to lie for the interest of others if such truth is so awful to share, then for that reason, the desire for truth would then be unneeded if an illusion is presented as reality. In Unamuno’s novel, the burden of enlightenment is so horrible for a simple man to handle that Don Manuel, the village priest, decided on his own to keep it a secret and lives a life entirely of falsehood since the truth of existence is too dreadful for others. With that, he prefers to keep his atheism a secret and is aware of the amount of power religion has to the village and displays happiness and love to his people even if his faith is a sham. “… The truth may perhaps be something terrible, something intolerable, something mortal; those poor people wouldn’t be able to live with it”(Unamuno 11). Religion is vital to Don Manuel since he relies on the villagers to accept the word of god as if it were to be factual so they would never question his motives. The amount of pressure that Don Manuel gives to himself is not only to make himself appear virtuous, but to create peace, and to preserve the illusion that he created.

Furthermore, Don Manuel’s actions are linked to Nietzsche’s essay because the reasoning behind the necessity to reveal the idea of truth is such a primitive thing to do and sadly will never be satisfied, ‘Nothing is more incomprehensible than how an honest and pure desire for truth could rise among men'(Nietzsche 2). Nietzsche here is exposing how people tend to think that they are essential beings; however, this reasoning is the foundation to the problem of seeking truth when it is just a mere illusion created by interpretation, and because language is so complex from its deception that created countless possibilities of the meaning of truth. “Truth are illusions about which it has been forgotten that they are illusions, worn out metaphors without sensory impact, coins which have lost their image and now can be used only as metal”(Nietzsche 5). Therefore, since there is no such thing of a universal truth, the very idea of truth is just the name given to the point of view of the people who have the means to enforce it. Nietzsche would argue that as long as there is no absolute truth, then truth can be absolutely anything. In a way, this idea is demonstrated in Unamuno’s novel when Don Manuel ignores his deep and darkest thoughts so that he can create an illusion for his people. His purpose is his people, to care and nurture as if they were his children to hide them from the solitude that he fears.

Throughout the novel, Don Manuel repeats, ‘I am afraid of solitude'(Unamuno 5), to Angela and Lazaro the only two people who know his secrete. And they too slowly throughout the novel show signs of distress from the “idleness” that Don Manuel hates because he knows it allows them to be alone with their thoughts. In Nietzsche’s essay, he points out that people use the art of dissimulation to find truth and then mistakenly will define it as forms; however ‘their perception leads nowhere to the truth’ (Nietzsche 2). Nietzsche’s here is stating that as humans there is never going to be a true meaning of truth because of language; language is filled with metaphors, and at the moment we think we know something at its purest we only know about the metaphors for such thing. So ultimately, we will never see a thing authentically because over time their true origins get forgotten. This concept is shown throughout Angela’s character when she discovers that Don Manuel is not religious and become conflicted with herself and starts to doubt her faith.

Ethical dilemmas routinely occur in people’s lives. Individuals constantly face hard times contemplating available options before selecting the supposedly right choice or course of action. Such dilemmas are also present in the medical field and can sometimes turn the lives of doctors and patients upside down. Mr. Purplepatch and his patient, Mrs. Blank, are facing one hard situation that requires them to select one of the two available hard options. Should they rely on the results of the test with a 95% accuracy and undergo a hazardous treatment or hope that the 5% remaining would save the life of Mrs. Blank? Should the doctor be transparent in this case? This paper intends to analyze the possible options that the doctor has by deeply examining them and selecting the best course of action.

Lies in the doctor-patient relationship are commonly found, especially in the cases of severely ill patients. Doctors often justify such actions by stating that those patients are better off not knowing the absolute truth. At the same time, many doctors and psychologists believe that honesty is a central aspect of the relationship between the doctor and his patient and a major feature for severely ill patients.

In an article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 1982, this concern was intensely discussed. Dr. Lawrence Goldie, who specializes in psychotherapy for dying and severely ill patients, aims to convince people about the importance of complete honesty in medicine, especially for people risking death. First of all, three arguments against truth-telling were presented and then refuted by Dr. Goldie. The first is that doctors’ main objective is the well-being of their patients who already are suffering a lot, therefore telling them that they’re in a very delicate situation and might die would only cause additional complications for them. The second argument is that doctors can never be 100% sure of the diagnosis and should therefore remain quiet. The third argument is that patients themselves would not want to be told the truth when they reach the stage of an incurable and deadly disease. Dr. Lawrence Goldie starts by counter-proving the first argument. He claims that truth-telling’s benefits outweigh its harm. Dr. Goldie understands the anguish caused when revealing the truth but argues that when an ill patient knows that he’s dying, he would try so hard to spend his remaining time doing the things that he likes, spending time with the people he loves, arranging affairs with the people he once loved and improving the process of dying as much as possible. The second counterargument is that doctors should transmit all known information to their patients even if the information may not be 100% true. At the end of the day, nothing is perfect in the world and patients should know about any situation that they may have to face someday in the future. The last counterargument is experimental: a survey showed that severely ill people would actually like to know the truth rather than being lied to by their doctors. This fact is opposed to the misbelief that says that patients do not wish to be told the truth about their fatal condition.

Linking those counterarguments to the situation faced by Dr. Purplepatch and Mrs. Blank, the doctor seems to have accomplished his first duty successfully by explaining the situation carefully to his patient. As dramatic as it sounds, Dr. Purplepatch clarified everything and told his patient about the two possible routes that may be taken along with the outcomes of each one. His second duty falls in the advice that should be given afterward: should he just recommend an option or force one by claiming that it would be the only one to surely save her? Doing so would be considered lying since both processes don’t assure the survival of Mrs. Blank. Well, according to Dr. Lawrence Goldie, honesty between both sides should always be present. Therefore, Dr. Purplepatch should tell his patient that no ideal course of action exists and that choosing either way would create some risk. Consequently, Dr. Purplepatch should advise to move forward with the least risky procedure. Based on the 95% accuracy of the test and using the arguments stated above, Dr. Purplepatch should advise Mrs. Blank to undergo the treatment and should also let her know that the treatment doesn’t guarantee her a completely healthy life because of the potential removal of her kidneys and liver. By doing so, the patient’s autonomy would be respected and the doctor would have completed all of his obligations.

On the other hand, Plato once said: « le mensonge est condamnable sauf en medecine » as in lying is condemnable except in medicine. For Plato, as for many other people, doctors are the only individuals in the world who have the right to lie to their patients. This idea is based on the fact that lying to severely ill patients in certain circumstances can sometimes be beneficial.

In 2014, Dr. Sandeep Jauhar published an article in the New York Times entitled: “When doctors need to lie” in which he, as the title shows, justifies the act of lying in medicine in specific situations. He also doesn’t deny the fact that patients’ autonomy should be the priority in normal cases. According to Dr. Jauhar, the underlying philosophy in cases of lying is paternalism: The physician must do no harm to his patients and always look for their welfare, as the father to his children. Using this as a reference point, Dr. Jauhar believes that while doctors may not want to lie to their patients, they sometimes do it for their well-being. He gives the example of a situation that happened once with a patient of his, a 22-year-old Jamaican man. This man was suffering from severe heart problems and probably needed a heart transplant. After telling him about his situation, the Jamaican man was devastated and started crying. At this specific point, Dr. Jauhar knew that doctors sometimes should keep secrets.

Relating this to the dilemma faced by Dr. Purplepatch and Mrs. Blank, it would seem that the doctor already made an error in revealing the absolute truth to his patient all at once. Indeed, Mrs. Blank seems confused and lost. She was already dealing with the physical pain and she’ll have to deal with the emotional pain after knowing that her life is on the line. Dr. Purplepatch’s objective now should be to find what’s best for his patient both on the physical and emotional side. He’s supposed to try hard to reduce the agony that he caused when he told her the absolute truth. Lying now become an option. In fact, Dr. Purplepatch should select the appropriate procedure and persuade Mrs. Blank that this procedure would be the only one to eventually save her life. Implementing this strategy would diminish the already-triggered anguish and would give the patient some hope, even though the selected procedure could lead to the patient’s death. Supposing that Purplepatch selects the course of treatment, he would then have to somehow convince his patient that the treatment is the only way that would guarantee her life.

In such delicate dilemmas, different points of view will be present. Some people may think that Dr.Purplepatch should lie, other are convinced that telling the truth is always the first phase of reaching the optimal solution. Some people may also believe that Dr. Purplepatch should persuade Mrs. Blank to undergo the hazardous treatment even if it includes removing the liver and kidneys. Others consider that such a dangerous treatment might cause additional health problems and that the patient should hope that the test is wrong, rely on the 5%, and undergo the course of non-treatment.

Personally, I believe that lying can never be justifiable. And in this specific case, lying can even be considered disrespectful. I’m not saying that lying to patients in difficult situations isn’t usually done with the intention of avoiding hurting the patients, but it would be an underestimation of the patient’s ability to overcome tough situations. As discussed above, a survey showed that severely ill patients would actually want to know everything about their situation. They might want to plan something for their families before leaving them for example. In addition, trust between the patient and his doctor would be completely lost the moment the doctor decides to lie. In addition, lying now becomes much harder since patients can access information related to their condition on the Internet. For these reasons I believe that Dr. Purplepatch did the right thing by being completely transparent and honest with his patient, telling her everything about her situation.

In regards to the advice that has to be given by Dr.Purplepatch, undergoing the course of treatment should be recommended. Studies show that no test or treatment in the world gives 100% accuracy. In fact, according to Dr. Trisha Torrey (2018), the majority of medical tests are not 100% reliable, but at the same time, it’s well known that every test that is conducted in hospitals usually follows a detailed protocol before being used legally on human beings. Such a protocol makes sure that the test is as reliable as possible and can be used and trusted by individuals, but will never reach an accuracy of 100%. Therefore, a 95% accuracy on the test conducted can be considered high and should convince both the patient and the doctor that the ethical thing to do would be to undergo the treatment. On the other hand, Mrs. Blank may ask herself the following question: if there’s a 5% chance that the test is wrong and that she isn’t actually affected by the Witheringspoon-X deadly disease, why would she start such a hazardous treatment that might require the removal of her kidneys and liver. The answer here is simple: relying on a probability of only 5% is even riskier than undergoing a dangerous treatment. The issue that is discussed here is the life of a woman and not a game of chance. Indeed, in games of chance like poker, the worst that can happen is the loss of money, while here the life of a woman is on the line. The doctor should therefore select the procedure that assures his patient the highest probability of success, even if that probability doesn’t reach 100%. Therefore, in this specific case, the course of treatment should be recommended. At the same time, the doctor should be completely transparent and remind his patient that this process enhances her chances but doesn’t guarantee her survival. Furthermore, this is the life of Mrs. Blank, not the doctor’s, and she should be the one making the final decision regarding the process selection while taking into consideration her doctor’s advice.

On the whole, making life-changing decisions is a very hard task. Doctors usually spend some hard time contemplating the available possibilities especially when the lives of their patients are on the line. Should they lie or not? Should they just recommend a process or persuade their patients to select that process? All these questions are serious ones faced by a vast number of doctors around the world including Dr. Purplepatch. This paper has shown why honesty should always be a priority between doctors and patients, and why doctors’ main goal should always be to maximize the risk of success when their patients are in danger. Dr. Purplepatch was completely honest and performed, up to the point, all his duties perfectly. The only thing he still has to do is to recommend the course of treatment to Mrs. Blank and to explain to her why this available possibility enhances her chance of survival. Nonetheless, the last call should be Mrs. Blank’s. She’s the one who will make the final and last decision. However, is she in a position where she has the ability to do that?

Sources

1. Sandeep Jauhar (2014). “When doctors need to lie”. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/when-doctors-need-to-lie.html
2. “On telling dying patients the truth” (1982, September). Journal of medical ethics. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/27716063
3. Trisha Torrey (2018). “How accurate are your medical tests?”. Very well health. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-accurate-are-your-medical-test-results-2615480

Withholding the truth about a patient’s health, health outcomes, or treatment can be taxing for families and medical providers. Doing so could also be in direct violation of a patient’s autonomy, their right to make rational decisions and choices regarding one’s overall well-being (Vaughn, 2013, p. 71). Based on the case study provided, the decision of the doctors and patient’s family members to administer a flu shot to Mr. Simpson without his informed consent is a clear form of medical paternalism and limitation to one’s autonomy. Using the Kantian perspective about the morality of truth-telling, I claim that withholding truth or lying should never be permissible, especially in a medical setting.

Mr. Simpson, a fairly healthy eighty-year-old man with slightly weak lungs, has continuously rejected receiving an annual flu shot out of fear of contracting the flu. Although Mr. Simpson has been informed that the flu shot may help him fight off or prevent him from getting the flu, he is unwavering in his decision to not receive the shot. Because of his unwavering decision, his family has asked his doctor(s) to administer the flu shot but withhold the “truth” about the shot from the patient. Knowing that Mr. Simpson has a desire to live a long seemingly healthy life and is open to receiving treatment that will “boost his immune system”, his family has made a decision that would override Mr. Simpson’s ability to make an autonomous decision about his own health.

Despite the many attempts from his doctors, Mr. Simpson is clearly standing his ground on his decision to refuse the flu shot. Mr. Simpson, like many patients his age, may be in a stage of his life in which he feels that the flu shot would do more harm than good. He may be unwilling to express his “truth” with his family because he may not want to overwhelm them with sadness or fears about his decision. Of course, lying or withholding the truth from his family is also wrong, nevertheless, Mr. Simpson has a moral obligation to himself to be happy. Whatever consequences that arise from his decisions would be something he would have to live with or without depending on his health outcome.

Lying to patients is a clear violation of one’s autonomy. The doctors in Mr. Simpson’s case have a duty to honor his decision to refuse the flu shot even when they believe the shot would ultimately decrease his chances from catching the flu. According to Kantian ethics, “informed consent of the patient for any treatment [including the flu shot] would be mandatory and misleading the patient about the treatment would be out of the question” (Vaughn, 2013, p. 77). If the doctors choose to adhere to the family’s wishes about lying to and/or misleading Mr. Simpson and something goes wrong, the doctors would be held accountable for any negative health outcomes. In the cases of Cobbs v. Grant (1972) and Bouvia v. Superior Court (1986), courts have ruled that “competent adults have a ‘constitutionally guaranteed right’ to decide for themselves whether to submit to medical treatments” (Vaughn, 2013, p. 78). Doctors or medical providers who go against their patients right to refuse [in the absence of informed consent] are subject to actionable battery.

Not only is lying or withholding the truth from a patient morally wrong and violates his or her autonomy, asking or trying to force the doctors to lie to the patient is also in direct violation of their autonomy as well. A request of this type presumes that the medical provider isn’t capable of making a logical and/or rational decision on his or her own. This is the same as Mr. Simpson’s family trying to force him to receive the flu shot against his will. Lying, from a Kantian perspective, “is wrong because it undermines personal autonomy” (Vaughn, 2013, p. 9).

Although the argument against lying and/or withholding the truth from patients may seem like the morally obvious thing to do, there are arguments that claim that lying and/or withholding the truth should be permissible in some cases. First, one may say that Mr. Simpson is not capable of making competent decisions about his health because of his age. As individuals age, their cognitive functions typically decline. Older adults may develop Dementia, Alzheimer’s, or other cognitive disorders that limit their ability to make rational decisions concerning their health. In such cases, some would argue that medical providers and/or family members have the right or consent to withhold the truth from patients if and only if the information that’s being withheld does no harm to the patient.

While the previous argument may hold truth in some cases, Mr. Simpson’s scenario clearly states that he is in “fairly good physical health” aside from weakened lungs. There is no indication that Mr. Simpson is nonautonomous, someone who has the inability to make autonomous decisions on his or her own behalf. Regardless of an individuals age, respect for his or her autonomy should always be taken in consideration. Family members and medical providers have a moral obligation to respect and respond to the needs of patients as they arise. In other words, “individuals should do unto others as they would have them do unto them”.

Another argument that can be possibly made for lying and/or withholding the truth from patients is that telling the truth could possibly do more harm than good. Some providers may lie or withhold the truth about a patient’s illness/condition in hopes of the patient getting better. According to Vaughn (2013), it was once speculated that patients with serious/terminal illness benefited from their provider withholding the truth about their condition. Withholding the truth or lying in this case would have been considered justifiable because the provider would have been “protecting” or “shielding” the patient from anxiety or worry about his or her condition (p. 154).

Granting the previous argument is plausible, trying to “protect” or “shield” patients from anxiety or worry still does not give providers the right to override one’s ability to make rational decisions about his or her care. In fact, according to Kant, “the act of lying [can possibly] cause injury”…For [a lie] always injures another; if not another individual, yet mankind generally, since it vitiates the source of justice” (Kant, 1909, as cited in Vaughn 2013, p. 147). In other words, there should never be a reason for anyone to lie or withhold the truth, regardless of the situation or outcome. Individuals, especially medical providers, have a moral duty to honest, open, and transparent about a patient’s health whether positive or negative.

Lying should always be proceeded with a level of caution and concern in all aspects of one’s life especially in a medical setting. A lie can diminish any type of trust, rapport, and/or credibility that a patient relies on when seeking medical advice or guidance. If medical providers accept lying as an acceptable way of overriding a patient’s decisions, informed consent should become a thing of the past. Withholding the truth or lying in a medical setting should be avoided if possible and without judgement. Any instances in which medical providers refuse to fully inform their patients of treatment should be questioned because a patient’s life and personal decisions are more important than those of the doctor or the patient’s family. Based on the arguments against and for lying or withholding the truth from patients, it can be concluded that an individual’s right to decide is more important than the decisions of medical providers and family members. Although the patient expresses the desire to live, it is ultimately his choice to refuse getting the flu shot regardless of the benefits he has been made aware of. Therefore, in Mr. Simpson’s case, doctors should adhere to the patient’s decision to refuse the flu shot because it would be the most ethical and morally right thing to do.

We never know what’s in people’s hearts. The real thing is not necessarily what others tell us. This is not the time to go easily and trust people. You must be vigilant if you do not want to be fooled.

It is not really difficult to know if the person is telling you the injustice. Because, without knowing it, the person does or says something that indicates that he is lying. Here are ten ways to discover that people lie about Bacaterus:

1. Moving eyes. The first way to discover someone who lies is through his eyes. There is a saying that the eye can explain more than speech. Maybe this saying makes sense, because you may know that other people are lying to you or not through their eyes. People who lie unconsciously will feel uncomfortable with themselves. In your brain, you ask questions of this person who does not want to answer them. Because the person already knows the real answer (reality) in his brain but does not want to say it, his eyes will move constantly to the right and left. This fuzzy eye is a sign that they are in a dangerous situation. A moving eye indicates that the person is backing up when the requested event has occurred. Then look for the back doors to ‘escape’ the correct answer.
2. Flashing eyes. How to discover that the second person lying still looks at his eyes. If the person’s eyes are constantly blinking on an unnatural scale, she is probably lying. In general, people blink five to six times a minute. However, when people are lying down or stressed, they can blink 5 to 6 times continuously without interruption. We may not understand it, but flashing eyes are constantly affected by dopamine. When emotions are triggered by adrenaline (for example, when lying down), the eyes blink unknowingly more often and faster than usual.
3. Mimicry of the face. The next way to discover someone who is lying is to pay attention to the expression on their face. If your partner experiences rapid emotional changes or suddenly something unusual, the person may be lying. See the color of your face, or suddenly blush or fade. Look at the nostrils, whether they are wide or not. These signs may indicate that the person is lying.
4. Fake smiles. Nowadays, children often use this term: false smile also called a false smile. If people really smile, the skin in the area close to the eye will attract and accumulate, causing wrinkles in the eyes. When someone laughs but the heart says the opposite, the smile produced is not too wide. The person’s eyes did not shine. And you can see that someone’s cheek is not interested, so it does not cause wrinkles in the eyes (smiling eyes). Conversely, if people really smile, the smile will be very wide and cause wrinkles on the left and right sides of the lips. The cheeks will rise when people smile widely, then the smiling eyes will appear automatically.
5. How to speak. The way of talking is adding facial expressions. If you have noticed the look on the person’s face, but you do not know if she’s lying or not, pay attention to the way she talks. If the person suddenly changes habit, she can lie. For example, when someone speaks, he usually uses many hand movements. However, when lying down, the person tends to stay still and his hands do not move while he is talking. Or, how other people’s lies can be detected, can also be noticed by the breath. If your interviewer takes a deep breath before or while you are speaking, something may be hidden because they save time for speaking. Even if the person is breathing too quickly, it can be unfair to you.
6. Body language. You may also know that people lie or do not lie because of their physical movements, or rather, they are known as body language. Because the body can say more information than speech. Look at the person’s hand to see if your hand looks relaxed or tense. If the person squeezes both hands while talking to you, you may know that you are anxious or are trying to hide something. So watch your feet too. If your legs move constantly as if someone were leaving quickly, you are very tense and you want to end the conversation with you quickly. If you and the person are sitting, look at his legs. When the person’s legs are crossed on the knees and heels, they are lying down.
7. Touch the body too much (especially the face). The way to discover the person who lies is to: the body too much, more precisely, to touch the face. Simple things when people are tense and uncomfortable, touch their own body. Movements such as rubbing your neck, touching your lips, and scratching the back of your head are signs that the person may be lying.
8. Throw the face when prompted. When you ask the person who suddenly looks on the other side, she is probably lying. He can do this to save time and think about how he can answer his questions with lies.
9. Defensive. The way to know if a person is lying is if she becomes defensive. The defensive functions appear unconsciously when the person wants to defend himself. He does not want to be caught lying to you, so he will be moved and frightened and will deny all your accusations.
10. Change your conversation. The last way to discover people who lie is to pay attention to their words. Has the person changed the subject or not? If this happens, you must constantly focus on their conversation so that people do not want to answer your question. That’s how you know people lie to you about Bacaterus. The examples above are just a few ways to find out if people tell you differently. Do you know it in another way?