Is lying ever OK?

Yes it is lying. And yes, it is acceptable.

OK. OK. OK. Ok for what? By what standard are we to measure the ok-ness of lying? Give me a standard, and I’ll give you a ruling.

Slight bending of the truth isn’t lying…it’s slight bending of the truth, that’s all. If it’s done to protect someones feelings or not used in a way to hurt another person, I would consider it acceptable.

When you lie so as not to hurt someone’s feelings (and the lie will not make any other difference to reality) then it is OK.

Pointless. People won’t stop lying anyway.

White lies are fine. Big, damaging lies aren’t.

“Farther Vader betrayed and murdered your father” not lying. Just a point of view. It all worked out in the end.

Yes it’s lying and yes it’s okay and yes we all do it.

When someone is using a shoehorn to put their jeans on and asks,“Do these make me look fat?“I save alot of grief by just telling them,“Noooooo…they make you look very condensed!“It’s an opinion stretched to the limits….

Yes, it is lying, and sometimes it is acceptable.

If it is telling someone they look fabulous, even if they have looked better, then that white lie is fine.

If it is reducing your ability to have good communication with someone it can be bad. Sometimes we need to hear the truth, even if it hurts, to improve ourselves and how we interact with others.

Also, children should know it is ok to lie to strangers for safety reasons, or friends if they are unable to stand up to peer pressure.

Thank you everyone.
The truth is I think it is always a judgment call; and I dislike doing it.
I do not like to hurt anyone’s feelings. The problem is that if we do not make people face some truth’s. Someone eventually will.

I think that little white lies to protect peoples feelings are absolutely fine. As long as your not affecting their life, or keeping a large truth from them, I don’t see any harm in it

To me that is unacceptable. About a year ago, my boyfriend lied to me, said it was tp protect my feelings. I would rather of had the truth, yes that would of hurt also, but I would know that he had the respect for me to tell the truth and then up to me to deal with it. Whereas, a lie, I would have to deal with what he lied about and the fact of why.

I only lie when I’m being sarcastic.

Sometimes it’s a good thing, it depends what you lie about is important. Should you lie always have a good back up lie should it blow up in your face.

I can see lying being more acceptable in some life-or-death situations.

Little bitty harmless lies are fine. It’s nice to lie and save someones feelings. And you have to lie to your kids about somethings. Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy are the obvious ones.

Totally agree with telling white lies to save somebody’s feelings from unnecessary hurt but for somebody to make a conscious judgment to tell a lie that can have a detrimental impact on another person I feel is not acceptable…how dare they!!

Not telling the truth is lying. Any form of it.

The problem people have is that they assume that not telling the truth is always bad. And you will meet a few users on here who will insist that it is and probably turn this thread into a huge argument. I, however, am not of that persuasion. I don’t tend to live in a black and white world. Things are rarely always and never.

Sometimes lying to spare someone’s feelings or protect someone is a better option than not doing so.

Half-truths, “spin” and “doctoring” are all forms of lying. Which is not to say that that makes them evil, or even that lying itself is evil. And I mean telling out and out falsehoods—is not necessarily always a bad thing.

Context is the key.

If you tell a half-truth or white lie (“I love your apple pie!”, when you actually hate it), then that’s not necessarily a bad thing at all. Perhaps a better thing would be to offer a criticism that is constructively helpful: “Did you substitute salt for sugar in this recipe? I’m not sure that this taste completely agrees with me.”

On the other hand, sometimes lying is a necessary and positive good thing. To make an extreme example: When the SS knocks on your door in the middle of the night to ask if there are any Jews in the neighborhood and you lie through your teeth and say, “Nein! Never!” when in fact you have two Jewish families hiding in your attic, that’s a lie that is such a good thing that movies and songs will be written in praise of you someday. That lie may actually be damaging to the SS officer. If you think the SS is a good thing, then you probably wouldn’t be hiding Jews in your attic, would you?

And a good card player (all kinds of gamblers, in fact) lies all the time by bluffing up or downplaying his hand.

So to restate what I said about context: It depends on the game that you’re playing.

What’s the big deal with lying? Everybody lies. I don’t give a shit if people lie, unless it directly impacts my life in a negative way.

There was a discussion about this awhile back and I just think lying is pointless.

Lie for the sake of others, but not for yourself.

@CyanoticWasp
Spin often consists of highlighting parts of the truth that otherwise wouldn’t get any attention.

Lying is a skill like any other and if you want to maintain a level of excellence, you have to practice constantly.

@Nullo, don’t tell me that you’re spinning “spin” now? Although you are not incorrect.

Withholding truths you don’t need to share to protect someone elses feelings is acceptable.
Withholding truths to mislead others or for your own benefit is not acceptable.
Outright lying to attempt to avoid admitting responsibility for things you have done or failed to do is reprehensible.
Lying to blame others for things you have done is contemptible.

@CyanoticWasp
And that is how spin works! :D
I had a Public Relations professor that got great reviews from all of his students, including me. It wasn’t until a semester afterwards that I realized why.

Many Professor do this.

When my mom ask, “do I have Alzheimer’s?” My reply, “of course not mom!” I lied…this is okay!

Other than to protect another human being’s feelings or health, my answer would be no! There is never a good time to lie. One lie leads to another…we know the rest of the story!

Good point @BoBo1946 .

@philosopher thank you P!

No such thing as lying for someone else. Everything we do is selfish.

@tinyfaery My friend does something wrong, my boss/teacher is going to punish whoever committed the act harshly (my friend). Lets say I know my friend has been having a rough day. I say I committed the act. I save my friend the pain for making a mistake. It is a lie. You could say it is selfish, but I’m not doing it to be a better person or make that friend like me any more, I do it for the sake of someone else.

You did it so you would feel good about yourself. Fail.

Some people are to thick and selfish themselves to actually see what I’m getting at. Feel free to think what you want.

Sure. Read some Shopenhauer (that’s a philosopher) and grow up a bit. ALL acts are selfish.

People, please. One fundamental concept we must realize: “selfish” and “bad” are not synonymous. Not at all.

@DominicX
It is when you’re even the slightest bit collectively minded, though.

Nope.

Fact from fiction, truth from diction. Lying is never good. If a person ask you something they did so because they believe you will give them an honest assessment. What is a friend or family member believed they could sing but could not hold a tune if it was Velcroed to their palm? If you told them they sang OK because you did not want to tell them they sounded like a dying moose when they sang and they went karaokeing and made a fool of themselves it could come back on you as to why you did not tell them the truth to keep them so they could avoid looking crazy. As bad as it is sometimes learning the truth about your abilities and talents etc do you more service then the disservice of getting a lie leading you to have a false sense of reality. My rule, go with the truth.

When someone asks you not to lie to them and you do anyways it is NOT acceptable. If someone you claim to love lets you know that lies of any kind really hurt them and will impair their ability to trust you…then yes, lying is bad. When someone asks for the truth no matter how bad it may be and you lie to them while promising you’re not lying then it is BAD. If you don’t care/respect that person’s feelings then it doesn’t matter. But if that person matters to you and staying honest is important to them, then lying is not the way to show you care.