tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post4373970522971823504..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: LyingAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-66422747442916334502008-01-31T19:17:00.000-07:002008-01-31T19:17:00.000-07:00Ever seen the movie "Thank You For Smoking"? I hig...Ever seen the movie "Thank You For Smoking"? I highly recommend it, and it's somewhat relevant to the posts here...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-41364658190761303952008-01-31T10:38:00.000-07:002008-01-31T10:38:00.000-07:00We live, alas, in an age of near-universal mendaci...We live, alas, in an age of near-universal mendacity. The only thing that matters to all too many people is what they can get away with – not what’s right.<BR/><BR/>Lying, as you say, is a prima facie wrong. As Sissela Bok points out [‘Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, 1978], to be given false information about important choices in our lives is to be rendered powerless. It threatens our autonomy and, as you say, is a form of theft. <BR/><BR/>As we all know, communication can be used to deceive as well as to inform. Choices regarding truthfulness and deceit are woven into all we do and say. As Bok points out, from childhood on everyone knows the experience of being deceived and of deceiving others. Throughout life, no moral choice is more common than that of whether to speak truthfully, equivocate, or lie. <BR/><BR/>While many issues such as the nature of truth and the acceptability of lying in certain circumstances need to be addressed, my own experience is that lying is a HABIT which, if not curbed in childhood, can all too easily become compulsive in the morally lazy, or immoral, person who ends up not being able to distinguish between truthfulness [or honest belief] and deliberate falsehood.anticanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18135207107619114891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-36936513515679036662008-01-31T02:52:00.000-07:002008-01-31T02:52:00.000-07:00Hi,Now that I think about it, it is frightening ho...Hi,<BR/>Now that I think about it, it is frightening how accepted lying is in our society. Especially in the political arena where we are supposed to have elected good leaders and role models. Thanks for the clear explanation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-53275477556405664582008-01-30T00:57:00.000-07:002008-01-30T00:57:00.000-07:00Very well said Alonzo. Unfrortunately I pains me t...Very well said Alonzo. Unfrortunately I pains me to see that companies which routinely lie to their customers and/or the goverment they operate under, do not suffer almost no ill effects.<BR/><BR/>For me, any company which deliberately lied, even through the PR firm, would deserve full scale condemnation and boycott. Same goes for news reporters and politicians. I can't accept that a new reporter that lied to his audience, instead of being labeled a liar and ignored forevermore, is perpetually given another chance, especially if the ratings were good.<BR/><BR/>But you are absolutely correct. In a culture where lying is the norm for any public figure and truth is mostly inconvenient, people have grown accustomed to being lied to and they just ignore it (hell it's even expected most of the time) when they should be rejecting people who promote this culture.Divided By Zer0https://www.blogger.com/profile/02161522651023903941noreply@blogger.com