I took the negative argument for why lying is sometimes justified and my partner took the affirmative. Here is my outline, which contains only my parts of the debate:
Hello, my name is Ambour Leal and I’ll be taking the negative argument of why lying is sometimes justified.
Cross exam-neg:
While most of us tend to tell the occasional white lie or may lie for less-than-innocent reasons throughout our everyday lives, I am here to talk about why lying is not always justified, even sometimes.
When you’re given the choice, to tell the truth, or lie– which would your first choice be? Telling lies of any degree to yourself or to others can have various repercussions– whether they be positive or negative.
Telling intentional lies to others can impact their mental health, trust in people and in you, and could sour even the best of relationships.
According to an article on Learning Mind, lying to others can lead the recipient to lack empathy in the future, stir their negative emotions, feel disrespected, and cause them to be more suspicious of other people (Davies, 2022).
Furthermore, the article goes over why people may lie, according to expert psychologist Dr. Ekman: some of the reasons include but are not limited to:
to protect others, avoid consequences of their actions, for power and control, to make themselves look good, to protect themselves from harm, to spare someone’s feelings, to keep a matter private, and for personal gain, among other reasons (Davies, 2022).
Regardless of your reason, consider why you wish to lie in the first place. I understand telling the truth in certain situations may be difficult or not the easiest thing to put into practice, but it is oftentimes the morally right thing to do and if you have been telling lie after lie, finally releasing the truth can be very freeing as you get it off your chest.
Negative opening:
If you were considering telling a lie– consider putting yourself in the shoes of the person you may lie to. Would you want to be lied to in that situation?
Telling a lie can lead to more lies being told. In a lecture, clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson associates telling lies with a hydra– after the first lie is told, one may have to tell more lies to keep up with the first, and the matter becomes much more complex than before. The heads represent the complexities we may face when telling lies and how at times these complexities simply continue to grow (Side Effects of Telling Lies, 2017). Whereas with the truth, you just have to tell it how it is, rather than worry about lies piling up or having to remember what you first lied about.
Choosing to not tell lies when you don’t have to could help you maintain your inner peace, mental health, and relationships, and is the morally right thing to do.
Regardless of your beliefs, religion, or background, I think we all can agree that telling the truth more often than not is better for society and the way we deal with relationships, ourselves, everyday life, and daily situations.
Negative closing:
Telling the occasional white lie is not necessarily a good thing for you, the people you’re around, or those you come into contact with. Needlessly telling lies that are obviously untrue, save face for you, or are morally gray could land you in hot water or make things needlessly complicated. I reassert the notion that it is better to tell the truth when you can as often as you can and that lying is not always justified.
Doing so may allow you to lead a simpler, honest life that is what it is. According to sociologist Christie Carter, living honestly and speaking one’s truth are very different things. For example, if a close friend asked you about their appearance, such as if they look bad in a dress and you have an opinion that might not be what they want to hear, you can instead not say it at all and instead ask them what they think about themselves (The Power of Truth Telling, 2017). There are times to keep your truth to yourself and to know when to speak it– and when silence is better than telling a lie. If you do not wish to lie but cannot tell the truth either– saying nothing at all is an alternative to consider.
Although being honest may not always have a positive outcome or telling a direct truth may reveal something unwanted, the truth of the matter is that although telling a truth and a lie both do have pros and cons. It is your choice to make the morally sound decision and be as direct and honest as you can in everyday life or to lie.
However, context does matter. Sometimes telling the truth is as simple as ripping off a band-aid, and is not as difficult as we may think in our minds. It is just a matter of whether you’re willing to choose to do it.
Citations:
Davies, Janey. “8 Psychological Effects of Being Lied to (and Why People Lie).” Learning Mind, 15 May 2022, https://www.learning-mind.com/psychological-effects-of-being-lied-to/.
“Jordan Peterson – Side Effects of Telling Lies.” YouTube, uploaded by Bite-sized Philiosphy, 5 May 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23gRI_j5InA.
“The Power of Truth Telling”. YouTube, uploaded by Tedx Talks, 24 March, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgywq8sQxMo
For my partner’s argument, they had focused on the idea that telling white lies occasionally is harmless, similar to how parents tell their kids about Santa or say a tooth fairy will come to collect their teeth if they leave them under a pillow. Other times, if you wish to spare someone’s feelings, then you may be inclined to tell a white lie. For these reasons, lying is sometimes justified.
However, for my argument, I focused on the idea that lying less (or not at all if you can help it) is much more ideal and could help you avoid complicated or messy situations. By living a more honest life, you could also live more freely and simply, without any worry of keeping up with the original lies you came up with or worrying about any situations getting worse because of dishonesty.
For this debate, I thought I did pretty well throughout it, at least when it came to speaking about what I had written for my outline. I tried to be engaging by making eye contact with my classmates and speaking loudly and clearly. However, there was a typo toward the end of my closing speech– one of my parts was written in such a way that it didn’t make sense and when it came time for me to read it aloud, I messed up my flow, tripped over my words, and had to flounder for something to say that made sense on the spot, so that did not look very good.
This could have been avoided if I had corrected the error beforehand, but it was missed. Looking back now, I would have been more throughout with my notes so that way when it was time to do my part and present my side of the debate, I won’t have to struggle the same way again.
Ambour Leal 