A fantasy.
There are times, lies are told to keep a fantasy alive. Think of instances where parents tell stories of fairy tales, Santa Claus, witches, etc. They all know Santa doesn't exist but to feed the imagination of the impressionistic minds of their kids, they tell this white lie. White because it is not meant to be malicious and hurtful.
But isn't it such a fine line between a white lie and otherwise? The surreal quality surrounding a white lie attempts to mask its nature. A lie is a lie. And sometimes, people tell lies for a good reason, but they don't know that lying hurts the other party terribly. Whatever it is, I think a lie is always, almost always, a bad thing.
Oh well I am spouting gibberish. Again. I hate being lied to and I try not to lie, not even so-called white lies. At the end of the day they are still lies.
9 years ago
Are fairy tales lies? However, to me, they are just stories, with, most of the time, some underlying moral. But, ok, I get your point.
ReplyDeleteYes, a lie is a lie. Nobody likes being lied to. Is saying "it's a white lie" an excuse to cover up or make oneself feel better? Is it genuinely for the benefit of the person being lied to? There's always contention.
Recently, I'm reading a book which quoted Kant, who said that there was a duty to tell the truth to the murderer looking for his victim. He said that that if the murderer came to one's door & asked "is he in?", one would be obliged to answer truthfully even if this would lead to the death of an innocent person. So is lying good or bad here? The protaganist found it ridiculous of course (it seems there's a contention of moral here...which do you choose?). So the answer given by the protaganist was that lying is generally wrong,but some lies, carefully identified as the exception, will be permissible. Then she goes on about the "lying to not hurt feelings" lies. Is it the right thing to do? Perhaps it's not as simple as that. However, if one became accustomed to lying in such circumstances, the line between truth & falsehood could become blurred. [from The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith]
But I guess we're human...the most important thing is we are repentant...that we have a conscience. One thing we notice in life, though, is that the lie will finally be exposed. (Hey, you won't know it's a lie until it's exposed right?) I guess it's God's way of making things right, whether it may land you in good or bad stead with people or situations.