Everyday, people tell lies. No question, no denying it.

People tell lies for many reasons.

1) Make a good impression. You see a pretty girl, and you have a nice conversation. You somehow know she is into athletic guys, so when she asks if you play any sports, you answer "Uhh, oh yeah! I play every sport you can think of...psshh, I am so athletic, it's not even funny. It's hilarious."

2) Gain respect. (This sort of falls into making a good impression) You are in an elevator. You hear people saying they have good jobs, average at best (regards to popularity in society, making it a bit more uniform in that sense). You suddenly burst out "Oh yeah, pfft, I am a [highly recognized] doctor. No biggie." You are not a doctor, but rather a technician. You just want to gain respect, since you don't see being a technician as all that great in other people's eyes.

3) Preserve feelings. Your date asks you if her dress makes her look fat. In truthfulness, it does, because there's a lot of fabric in the midsection of the dress, making her look chubby, even though she isn't. You say "No babe. You look as thin as a pencil. Marvelous." To other people, it really does look like she is fat, and is going to be though of as fat by others, even though she isn't.
(Sorry if that was a bad/weird example)

4) Holding off any consequences (especially to any bad actions committed previously). You stole a baseball bat. Your parents look at you and ask if you stole it or not. You reply "...what?! Naww, Bobby stole it. He just put it in my hand, and I happened to have been holding it in my hand for the past thirty minutes. Psshh, why are you blaming me?..." Apparently, your parents, when they ground you, take all your electronics away and you have to just sit in your room reading a book. You lie in this instance to get away from that.

Anyways, I think white lies are not good, but can be helpful in certain situations. If you have a girlfriend/boyfriend, of course you don't want them to get hurt in any way, physically or emotionally. Using a white lie to preserve the feelings of him/her may make your relationship last much longer than it might have.

Earning false respect however, isn't great to be honest. It doesn't get you anywhere, and if it does, you end up feeling guilty about gaining whatever you have through the false respect.

You should face the consequences of your actions. Don't lie about it. It only makes things much worse.

Earn your reputation!    That's the best way to do it, and very much so better than lying.

I did say white lies are good in some situations. Do I think they are great to begin with? No. Try to stay away from lying as much as possible, even if it is small.

I myself am affected by lying, white lies in particular. Usually, it's in this case only. If my mom asks me if I finished my homework, I always say yes, even if sometimes, or actually many times, I haven't. But she asks like right when I get home, so I didn't even get to start, but I want to do some other things, so I just say yes so she can let me play outside and all that good turkey stuffing.

What do you think?

Well no lie is good . Whether it be white , black , yellow or clear . Once it is not true then it is bad . But just because it is bad does not mean that people will hate you for it

Yeah I have that same aspect on the matter, a lie is a lie, regardless on what is being withheld. Any type or form of lie is bad no matter how you put it, it is still a lie nevertheless, you can give people the wrong impression or the wrong idea or misconception through a white lie. Whether you try to make yourself sound like a cool person or give of the impression of an athletic popular person, you are still lying.  So overall, any kind of lie is not good, some lies may be worse than others, but no matter how you kindly or nicely you may put it, it is still a lie.


Another good thread by the way! 

Well lies can be good or bad. For example, we did not want my great grandma, who is 100, to know that my mom was having surgery. She would get really worried. We just said that she was going to get a mole looked at. That is a good lie, because it keeps her from worrying. Most lies, however, are bad lies.

I dont get why people think lies are so evil.
Is it really good to tell someone, actually, you look ugly.

Clearly thinking of others before you speak is wrong. Perhaps when your kids ask why you look so tired you should tell them youre probably going to lose the house.
Or why the neighbour dissapears? Oh, well he cut his wife into pieces so now hes in jail, he'll probably be released early though so you might see him again.

No.

I agree that the majority of lies are bad lies, but there can be very good ones. For example, during the Holocaust, Jewish people would hide in other people's houses to avoid capture. If some guards came in and said "We're looking for Jewish people, are you harboring any?" And they replied with "Yes, we're hiding them in the attic", THAT would be a very bad time to tell the truth. But, most of the time, lies are a bad way to go.

Well there are plenty of situations where lying is perfectly moral, If you tell a girl that she looks stunning and then you look at her not so stunning friend and say "eh, not so much", that wouldn't really be a proper thing to do. Lying for the sake of not embarrassing someone is usually a good reason to lie, unless you hate them of course.

Every person lies, all studies show this, it's just part of our nature, and it's a good skill to have to be able to spot a liar.

Any lies are bad to make, no matter on what kind of lie it is, a white lie, a black lie, a clear lie, or any other lie, it's wrong to lie in any way. I know a white like is what some people calls a "good" lie, but like other lies, someone will find out the white lie and that can cause a whole lot of problems in the future, So you shouldn't lie, even if it's a white lie.

I think most people feel that white lies are generally still lies, and thus should not be told. But Whether or not you believe that lying is ALWAYS wrong,  I suppose it depends a little on your philosophy.

For example, imagine your friend Mike comes to your house, out of breath, with panic stricken eyes. He asks if he can hide in your attic because an axe murderer is chasing him. And so you let him find his hiding spot.

Now about 10 minutes later, a tall dark man knocks on your door and asks if you say your friend Mike. The man is carrying a large axe with blood dripping off of it, and has a maniac expression in his eyes.

What would you do?

Well I'm sure most people would rather protect their friend rather than be honest and tell the axe man the truth.

That being said, there are some people (Kantianist) who would say: "No, you always tell the truth, no matter what the consequence". They believe to try to predict whether or not the out come will be better or worse is irrelevant, what matters is to ALWAYS behave ethically and treat each person and situation you come across as it's own end. And that your intentions should always be good. In this case, you never WANTED to hurt your friend, that was not your intention... but you still "had" to speak the truth to that axe murderer.

Of course, most people do not think that way, but it is interesting the different school of thoughts, that there are people who believe that lying, regardless of what for, is always the wrong choice.

I agree with what people are saying: a lie is okay if it is to protect someone or to prevent hurting their feelings. So yes, sometimes a lie can be a good thing, although if a man with an axe showed up at my house with blood dripping off of it I wouldn't even consider opening the door and would call the police.

thenumberone : Lying might not be 'evil' but it does deceive people.  Imagine if doctors told patients, "No, your weight is fine and you look great" when they have patients who are clinically obese and need to make life changes.

Instead of telling someone, "No, I like the way you look," you can help them by saying "You need to drop weight, get a haircut, and get some better clothes."  If they really care to make changes they would appreciate the opinion and the honesty.

White lies aren't bad exactly.  They certainly don't help because they won't let people gain an outside perspective.  I'd rather someone tell me I have a stain on my shirt and it looks dumb instead of walking around and everyone's laughing at me but no one tells me the reason why.

And if you have to lie to feel better about yourself, make a change.  Improve your work conditions, get a promotion, make a change, exercise more, do something to make that little white lie about yourself the truth.

warmaker :
Obviously there are exceptions, a doctor would do more harm than good covering up patients problems.

When there is the option to make positive observations, a.k.a saying they have a stain or something sure. But if there are no upsides to telling them something, then i wont.

Generally speaking, no form of lying is a good thing. Especially if you were to look at a lie as something that goes against moral values. However, simply saying that lies are bad does not mean that they are not useful. Lies are extremely important in some situations, such as a situation that could cause harm to another person if told the truth. Although lying can be useful though, doesn't mean that it should always be used, especially since the repercussions of lying could be greater than if you were to tell the truth in the first place. Personally, I say that lies are good and bad, and shouldn't always be used frequently, but if you have to, or it would be good to use a lie, then by all means, lie.

I think it depends on who you are talking to and about what. I honestly know if I ask a guy if my pants make my butt look to big, I do not want him telling me the truth.  Chances are it was asked because I feel self conscience and I wanna be lied to a little. lol

Sidewinder : well if it protects what you are feeling it migth be a good thing but lots of times it isnt like who ate the box of food i didnt even though its in my hand