When Did Lying Become The Acceptable Norm In American Society?
I don’t know about you, but when I was a child growing up lying was considered a fairly serious offense. When my kids were growing up, lying to us was still a fairly serious offense.
Don’t get me wrong. Of course, when I was a child if I could lie to my parents, and get away with it about my “certain activities”, e.g.- grades, where I was, and what I was actually doing. In these cases I certainly would lie, if I thought I could get away with it.
I lied it to protect my own self interests. That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a well-defined penalty if my parents did found out that I was lying. There certainly was, and the punishment was always worse than if I had just told the truth in the first place. I raised my children the same way. The truth is always worse then lying about it. Period! There are no, and’s, if’s, or but’s, about it. Lying was unacceptable. Basically, If I owned up to it, I was far better off then lying about it.
Somehow, everything has changed in the last several years.
Today, lying has become the new normal. What was once taboo, is now the accepted societal norm.
What the hell is wrong with everybody?
Let’s look at a few examples;
People lie on their resumes all the time. I have had several discussions with Human Resources professionals and they confirm that this is a wide-spread phenomenon.
This is something that I never understood. Let’s look at this from my own specialized job skill. I have been doing the same sort of job for over twenty years now. Certainly, I have done a lot in my time, and my resume reflects that.
If I was going to apply for a job that paid a lot more than I was making now, I could just pad my resume with skills and experiences that I don’t actually have right? I mean I can learn just about anything I need to know on the internet, just like everybody else. But, what if they asked me to do this one made up skill, on day one? Then I would obviously fail, and my credibility as well as my employment status from then on would be called into question.
Politicians like Donald Trump, and others lie all the time. Doe’s anyone on the media call him out on his lies? Rarely. It used to be that if a politician blatantly lied, the media crucified him or her for it.
Not this time around. Somehow Donald Trump telling blatant ties is somehow acceptable, and furthermore, his supporters don’t even care. What is wrong with everyone?
The politicians and their surrogates lie, and we give them a free pass. The media lies, and we give them a free pass. Corporations, and CEO’s lie, and we give them a free pass.
What the hell is wrong with everyone?????
Obviously, we all have the right of free speech. This fact is indisputable.
Actually, there are two types of lies. There are those “little white lies” and there are those “liar, liar, pants on fire” type of lies. One is to protect the feelings of others, and one designed is to deceive everyone through false pretenses..
The “Little White Lie” is just a small deception designed to protect the feelings of a particular person involved. E.g.- Why you were late, while you were actually out shopping for their birthday or anniversary present.
Or, your friend, spouse, or family member has just delivered a brand new newborn baby girl. Everyone gushes about how beautiful she is, but to you she looks just like a little old man dipped in 30 weight oil. Obviously, if you care for this person at all you are not going to exclaim, ” My God, That’s the ugliest baby I have ever seen”. Unless, you don’t want to have any sort of personal relationship with this person ever again.
In these type of situations, it is far better to keep your real feelings to yourself. Essentially, these since these lies actually don’t harm anyone, but they actually promote a certain peace and tranquility for all parties involved.
On the other hand, The liar, liar pants on fire, type blatant lies are very dangerous.
Donald Trump is a genius at these type of lies. Trump’s refrain of; Crooked Hillary, We are going to build a big beautiful wall and Mexico’s going to pay for it, I can’t release my tax returns because I’m being audited by the IRS, and I am going to deport 11 million illegal aliens, as well as the actual unemployment rate is 48%, are all lies designed to deceive the public for nothing more than personal gain,
The problem with, liar, liar pants on fire, type of blatant lies is that these are designed for personal or professional gain with absolutely no basis in fact. This type of lie is designed specifically to confuse others and to sway them to your side of the argument by “false pretense” for personal, political, or financial gain.
The uneducated or uninformed are easily swayed by a charismatic personality repeating a lie so often that it somehow becomes the truth. When in reality, a lie is always a lie, no matter how often it is repeated.
I find this new normal of lying to be totally unacceptable. If someone is lying they should be called our for what it is. A blatant lie should be called out, and confronted in the quest for the universal truth.
Why we let these lies stand now is beyond me. It was wrong when I was young, It was wrong when my children were young, and it is still wrong now, no matter who is telling it.
Personally, I find it so much easier to just tell the truth, because I never have to remember the lies I told to who, and when.
If you want my support, and possibly sway my decision, your argument should be based on facts, and the sheer power of the truth and verifiable facts of your argument. If you lie to me, every other statement you make is automatically suspect.
If you can’t stand on the truth, then you have no business standing at all.
Think about it!
As Always,
I am,
Tom Dye, The Safety Guy
09-18-2016
