Little White Lies

by Groff Schroeder

Many use deception daily, often for personal benefit.  They might tell their boss that her trendy outfit “looks great” - though they think it ridiculous.  Confronted about a discriminatory joke they might say, “one of my best friends is [insert stereotyped group here],” when a correct response would be, “a person at work is [insert stereotyped group here] and we sometimes say hi.”  If you believe and repeat a falsehood – is it still a lie?  Upton Sinclair wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.“   

We call these “little white lies,” but are they not still lies?  Those abhorring dishonesty and misdirection often find maintaining personal integrity in a society routinely practicing “polite” or “convenient” deception challenging.  Not participating in the “little” deceptions of daily life can be difficult, isolating and damaging, especially at work. 

Many rationalize larger deceptions.  Some might say, “Traffic made me late to work” instead of “I stayed out and slept late.”  Both drivers in a crash at an intersection might claim - and even believe - they had the green light.  Unless the light malfunctioned, only one of them can be truthful.  The driver who accelerated into the yellow light profits from believing the light was “green,” while lying harms the driver whose light was green.   

Parents all over the world deceive children about assorted magical beings associated with various holidays.  Although religious systems often forbid the telling of lies, some appear to tolerate and even celebrate institutionalized deceptions regarding the most basic tenets of their faith, such as the birth date of their most important figures. 

False analogies, like comparing abortion to the holocaust, posit compelling, but misleading arguments.  Those practicing abortion are usually women or couples controlling their most personal bodily functions; terminating the expression of their DNA, embryo or fetus in consultation with a physician, often reluctantly and under extreme financial, medical and or personal duress.  In the holocaust, a belligerent military dictator employed propaganda (systematic political dishonesty) and commanded brainwashed soldiers (under penalty of death) to summarily execute people of all ages from targeted racial (and other) groups. 

Omitting information can also deceive.  Few stories about New York Governor Elliot Spitzer’s prostitute mentioned Spitzer’s prosecution of the “outing” of CIA agent Valerie Plame – or the alleged gay prostitute posing as a journalist who apparently repeatedly spent the night in “W’s” “conservative” White House. 

Some accept certain deceptions while rejecting others.   Many demanded the impeachment of one president for lying about rather private matters in civil court.  It appears the following president repeatedly and knowingly lied about Iraq’s involvement in 9-11 and weapons of mass destruction, initiating an apparently illegal and unjust war.  How can the same pundits, politicians, reporters and citizens who demanded impeachment over rhetorical sleight of hand in a lawsuit exposing consensual sex accept more malevolent lies (previously publicly disproved by Valerie Plame’s husband) in the Presidential State of the Union Address resulting in the deaths of countless soldiers and civilians?

When do little white lies become big black lies?  What separates “harmless” deceptions from those producing or protecting dire societal consequences such as bribery, corruption, fraud, totalitarianism and war?  Can lies ever serve the “greater good?” 

If you cannot lie to yourself, to whom can you lie?

 Groff Schroeder    October 2008