K.+SAT+Essay

Honesty is important, of course, but deception can actually make it easier for people to get along.

 In a recent study, for example, one out of every four of the lies told by participants was told solely

 for the benefit of another person. In fact, most lies are harmless social untruths in which people

 pretend to like someone or something more than they actually do (“Your muffins are the best!”).

 Adapted from Allison Kornet, The Truth About Lying

 Assignment: Is deception ever justified?

Brittany just knew that her boyfriend was cheating on her, but she had no proof. She asked him every day and told him that she would not get mad if he told her the truth, but he still refused to tell her. The next couple of weeks he would stay out late and sleep until about twelve in the afternoon. Brittany finally gave up on her boyfriend and broke up with him because she thought he was cheating and lying to her face. Come to find out, he was planning for their anniversary and did not want her to know about it. Deception is justified on special occasions because it helps to spar someone’s feelings, it helps when one is trying to surprise their loved ones, and to stop themselves from getting into trouble.

 When someone asks if they look fat and the person that they are with is really close to them and wants to spar their feelings, the person says no. It does not matter to them whether the person is really fat or not, it just makes them feel better not to hurt their feelings. This makes deception justified because the person is not trying to hurt ones feelings so they tell a little lie. If the person was really fat and their friend told them yes then they might starve there self and try and hurry up and get all the weight off in some crazy diet or something. If they did that then that would start a lot of unnecessary problems. But, if they just lied this one time then it would not hurt.

Brittany’s boyfriend was trying to hide his anniversary present from her, but she thought he was doing so many other things. If she just would have waited a few more days then everything would have been okay. Surprises are based off of lying because when one goes to buy the gift and the loved one asked what they are doing, they don’t want to tell him/her that they are getting their gift. This would just ruin the surprise. Lying to hide something special is justified because if it was not there would not be such a thing as surprises.

 All the kids are standing in front of their parents as they ask them who drunk their juice. Every kid is saying no. This is a lie because all of them know who drunk. They are just trying to stop them from getting in trouble. It is like a rule, if it is not you just say no. This applies even when the person never comes out and tells on themselves. Deception is justified in this case because it is like snitching and it is not like the parents don’t already know who did it. They just have no proof.

Many people say that deception is never justified because whether it is to help a situation out or not, it is still a sin. Deception is justified because everyone sins and no one ever say that their sins are not justified. Deception is justified on special occasions because it helps to spar someone’s feelings, it helps when one is trying to surprise their loved ones, and to stop themselves from getting into trouble.