Position:Home>Philosophy> Can a nation kill itself from too many lies? Are lies ever Justified?

Bill Moyers, enough said!


There are times when lies are best - you lie to deceive an evil enemy for instance! If you believe truly what you say is the truth at the time and later discovery finds otherwise - that is not a lie because it was the truth at that original time!

Honey, does this dress make my *** look big!? Lie or tell the truth!?

Mommy, 5 yr!. old little boy asks, is there a Santa Claus!? Lie or tell the truth!?

I have no problem with a nation lying to an enemy if that lie will save thousands or perhaps millions of lives! Nothing is ever concrete when dealing with terrorism for instance! If we have a weakness wouldn't it be insane to tell the world (and our enemies) how to make use of that weakness in a way that could be fatal to us!?

Lies can be justified if the outcome saves live!.

Lies can be justified if it saves your marriage and keeps you from breaking a little kids heart! Little 5 year old Mary wouldn't really want to hear that there is no Easter Rabbit or no Santa Claus and a simple lie is okay!

Lie to save your life, yes of course! Lie to save your country from disaster, yes of course!

Is it a lie when Muslims claim to be the "Religion of Peace" and then the followers of that religion go out and kill or try to kill thousands of innocent people! Are the mullahs and imams lying for a purpose!?

When a mother or father asks a teenager - are you smoking dope or are you engaging in sex - the teenager most likely resorts to a lie - is this okay - some lies okay and some are not!?!? Hmmmm!Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Lies are always poisonous!. I don't know about an entire nation - can't get my mind around the scale!. But as to whether lies are ever justified, I taught my kids that the only time it is ok to lie is to get away from someone who is hurting you!.

It's like shooting a gun!. Yes it has it's time and place, but it is a destructive instrument!. Using it will result only in destruction!. Lies too, end whatever relationship they are used in!. Maybe not obviously, maybe not right away, but they are arterial cuts to any relationship!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Yes, It will be happen in US, just like Rome or Babylon!. The government and people must train themselves to be honest and open-minded!. We should treat other nations more respect if we need to survive!. American histories had tought us many lies and dishonor!. What would happen to us then!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

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What is a lie!? What is a puzzle!? What is a passage for!? A nation can live a lie but the lie can only be seen through anothers eyes!. To the people living a lie they are living a truth but it is not a perfect truth!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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yeah but!.!.!.!.like JFK we know the govnm lied, but ppl don't care!.
They just think, hey, it was another administration!.
That wouldn't happen in our time!.

The masses are sooo stupid!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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The USSR!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

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All these lies!.!.!.!.!.will get to them someday!Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Fascinating question !.!.!.!.

I'm struck by some of the responses, in particular those that attempt to justify either the taking or saving of a life as a mitigating circumstance to justifying lieing!. For me, be it semantics or philosophy, that position has us already more than half-way down the proverbial slippery-slope!.

As perplexing as the question may seem, the answer seems to be given a short examination and then, like some absolute decree, assigned a measure of subjective justification to allow lies to substitute for the truth!. I believe that stance is associated with using single moments or events (typically associated with life and death) as a means for trying to explain something that may be inexplicable or, at a minimum, needs further analysis!.

If we can imagine a time in human history moments before the first lie was spoken, we can then imagine a time, possibly the only time in history when truth was shared without a waiver, a caveat, a justification !.!.!. without the asterisk to denote the conditions that made it the truth!.

During that transactional moment when truth began to share air time with lies, beyond the physical laws of nature, everything else was suspect and, in effect, everything was reduced, in toto, to lies and the truth was ushered to a secondary role of having to be sifted from the trash heap of lies that rapidly accumulated!. Therein, in my view, was the shift from unconditional turth to justified lies !.!.!. and since then, everyone (today that would be 6!.6 billion of us) can -and do- stoically and unhesitatingly, justify why the truth can't be told!.

To answer your question directly, "Can a nation kill itself from too many lies!?" Indeed !.!.!. in fact, nations are built on lies (think our own United States and the refusal to deal with slavery when we killed the British for our independence !.!.!. and then, 80-90 years latter, annihilated each other in the bloddiest war of all -a Civil War, at that), and nations nurture and protect those lies until, like Humpty-Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass," the truth is reduced to all semantics and pragmatics and there's no telling fact from fiction!.

The USA is -in my view- caught in that spiral now!. Since nine-robed justices decided to have their voice replace millions of citizen voicesback in December 2000, the nation has fallen -precipitiously- from grace, at home and on the world stage!.

The lies of the previous eight years alone have sounded the death-knell and it's ineluctable that in the near future, America's once shining star will be waning as another nation's star (built and nutured on lies) will be waxing!.

Are lies ever justified!? No!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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