NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams, has decided to take himself off the air. His removal will perhaps be indefinite as he has been caught spreading, yet another falsehood. Previously, Williams made the claim that the helicopter he was riding while on assignment in Iraq was gunned down. When crew members of a separate helicopter which flew with William’s, pubically voiced their doubts, Williams apologized for his “fog of memory”.
This is a pretty gutsy lie to share, especially considering William’s global reach; however, lies—big and small—are a common occurrence. According to Pamela Meyer, author of “Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception,” humans are lied to up to 200 times per day.
I see white lies being overtly stated all the time at New Trier. Some are as basic as eagerly saying yes to the question, “Did you complete the textbook reading assigned last night?”
Then there’s the more grievous promise of, “Of course I wrote this essay!” Many teachers consider themselves capable of seeing through the falsities, but in reality, humans are able of detecting lies with only 54% accuracy. The overwhelming majority, 75-82% of lies, go undetected as suggested by Meyer’s research. Clearly, we have an issue with lying.
I can’t recall subtly mentioning to a teacher that any of my peers were lying, except in elementary school when I sided with the opposing team in gym and told them that they had indeed scored a winning point on my team’s goal. Is it so rare that I needed to be given a ribbon for telling the truth?
Perhaps the ribbon was meant to act as positive reinforcement, but the idea is still there.
So why do we lie, and even more curiously why do we allow others to lie when we know they’re doing so? Why will we go as far to put ourselves at risk to help others lie?
Even as I write this piece, a student walks by, and irritably explains to his friend that he had just been sent to the advisor chair for using someone else’s student i.d. to purchase food in the small cafeteria.
Considering that his friend loaned him his card to purchase a snack, this young man doesn’t think that he has done anything wrong. “Jacob” is simply upset that he is getting in trouble.
It seems he’s annoyed he got caught, and he doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong.
I’m not saying that all students should be sent to the advisor chair for borrowing a friend’s i.d., but I do believe that it would do us well to understand where the cafeteria staff and administration are coming from.
For all they know, the student might have stolen the i.d, and is stealing money. Unfortunately, few students would vocalize this perspective, which I’m sure they’re able to acknowledge.
Perhaps it’s in little white lies, or in those lies of omission where the ever-expanding balloon of dishonesty begins.
Once we’ve started giving in to those convenient lies, like the ones that temporarily stave off a parent’s wrath, we feel more comfortable formulating larger falsities. For those familiar with the foot-in-the-door phenomenon, this is along those lines.
Although lying is a common phenomenon–even subconscious– we must all try to think about the consequences these lies have on our lives. Maybe if we conciosuly think before we speak, our smaller instinctual lies will slowly dissapear.
Unlike Brian Williams, the lies my peers are telling are miniscule, but they still make a difference.