Lying = Intelligence???
Today I'm going to put my "whining" aside for a bit to rant. Last night as we were flipping back and forth between Dancing with the Stars and American Idol, we saw an advertisement for a news report. Now I didn't actually see this news report, but just the blurb in the advertisement had the hackles up on everyone in my family. Well, except for the dog. But if he'd understood human talk, he would have had his hackles up too. The blurb was about a report of a doctor who claims that lying is a sign of intelligence.
Huh???
Granted, as I've already said, I didn't see the actual report so I don't know where this doctor was going with this. But frankly, I don't care. You tell someone that lying shows their intelligence, you're making lying into something good. One doesn't have to believe the Bible, as I do, to know that lying is wrong. Many people think that "a little white lie" doesn't hurt anyone (not me...I don't believe in the myth of "little white lies." A lie is a lie no matter how big or small.), but I think a majority of people believe/know that lying is just plain wrong.
This really concerns me. How far is society going to fall? In my humble opinion, it's just dangerous--and irresponsible--to tell someone that lying shows intelligence. No, it shows dishonesty!
On a positive note, I was VERY pleased to see the reaction of my kids. They were horrified. We've spent their lifetimes teaching them that lying is wrong and that no good can come of it. I guess our teaching paid off. I just hope it sticks for a very long time, despite what some "credentialed" idiots may say.
Huh???
Granted, as I've already said, I didn't see the actual report so I don't know where this doctor was going with this. But frankly, I don't care. You tell someone that lying shows their intelligence, you're making lying into something good. One doesn't have to believe the Bible, as I do, to know that lying is wrong. Many people think that "a little white lie" doesn't hurt anyone (not me...I don't believe in the myth of "little white lies." A lie is a lie no matter how big or small.), but I think a majority of people believe/know that lying is just plain wrong.
This really concerns me. How far is society going to fall? In my humble opinion, it's just dangerous--and irresponsible--to tell someone that lying shows intelligence. No, it shows dishonesty!
On a positive note, I was VERY pleased to see the reaction of my kids. They were horrified. We've spent their lifetimes teaching them that lying is wrong and that no good can come of it. I guess our teaching paid off. I just hope it sticks for a very long time, despite what some "credentialed" idiots may say.
Comments
What a sad theory to pursue. And I hope there isn't a lot of grant money for further studies. Once you've embraced a lie, it is much easier to grab onto others.
Thanks for dropping by the dregs. I do rec. Once, but be very, very aware that the F-bomb is frequent. If you like music, and quirky characters you may love it. The actors have very strong accents (set in Dublin, I believe), too, so you might want the subtitles going. Of course then you get the F-Word in audio/visual stereo.
It may help to avoid the first scene between the main guy and another man which is riddled with it every other word, and is just a fight between friends. You won't miss much.
http://nymag.com/news/features/43893/
If you deny that lying ability is correlated with intelligence, you are denying a fact - in other words, YOU are lying.
Intelligence is a verifiable, quantitative attribute. Not a moral issue.