Ethics concepts and applications

Ethics

"the Way we Lie" by Stephanie Ericsson

Lies are lies, by any name

The essay "The Way we Lie" by Ericsson is a master piece in dissecting the various forms that we would like to cover lies and untruths that we entertain everyday. She overtly divulges that lies are always used to misappropriate the truths that we would rather not be heard by another. Indeed, she summarizes the appropriations of lies as to enable us to exaggerate, to allow us to minimize, to help us avoid confrontation, to help us spare people's feelings, to allow us to conveniently forget and to keep secrets (Samuel Cohen, 2004:120).

Ericsson sets out to indicate that there is no single untruth that can escape the lies brackets hence she categorizes all types of lies that we tell on an everyday basis and even the rare lies we come across and she gives examples of each category of lies. The mentioned categories are the white lie, facades, ignoring the plain facts, deflecting, omissions, stereotypes and cliches, groupthinking, out-and-out lies, dismissal and delusion. All these categorizations and the accompanying discourse is targeted at demonstrating that we cannot escape lies as long as we are alive and interacting.

It is clear from the argument that each person is prone to lies and is faced by a lie each and every day of their lives but there is a threshold of tolerance towards lies that makes lying be an outright evil and unethical, this is when one is living a lie. The author gives a personal encounter where she had to lie to a friend, the bank and even the partner in the house even though the lie, particularly to the partner would not add anything to her. This is just an analogy of the daily lies that are propagated and she challenges the reader to try to live a whole day without telling a lie and see how agonizing that would be.

The writer further discusses the categories of lies in a deeper sense to make it clearer to the readers. She says of white lie to be the most spoken lie as those who use it take it that the blunt truth will hurt more than a simple untruth used appropriately like telling someone they are smart yet they are not. Faced is another category of lies that the user manipulates the receiver by putting up a face that is really not theirs in order to create an illusion in the receiver. Ignoring the plain facts is yet another lie category where the false action is done, in total disregard of the facts, with the intention to deceive. Deflecting is yet another category where the attention due is diverted from the truth to other matters that may not necessarily concern the situation yet sensitive enough to receive attention. Omission is highlighted as yet another telling of lie that involves telling the truth but omitting a few truths that are crucial to the entire situation. Stereotypes and cliches is yet another category where the socially believed statements are used to misinform people instead of giving the balanced truth. Groupthinking is seen as a category of lies where one is compelled to agree to what the group believes in, not necessarily because is convinced but due to group loyalty demand. Out-and-out lies is yet another category where the person directly lies about something that can be seen as clearly the opposite of the truth. Dismissal is a kind of lies that are perpetuated by denying the reality and is considered the slyest of all lies categories. The last category here is delusion where the liar presents and believes in excuses as facts.

The argument put forth by the writer are very credible since they all draw from the real life situation and daily experiences that we undergo. They fetch from true scenarios that we undergo in the current society. The essay is hence very important to the reader as it gives the answer to the fine question of where the line between a lie and truth stands. It also gives the categories of lies to make it abundantly clear to the reader where the ethical standards are concerning lies.