Has lying become more socially acceptable in the USA?

[uscitizen]

Discuss.

 

[Mr Natural]

To paraphrase George Costanza:

"It isn't a lie if you believe it."

 

[uscitizen]

Ahh yes TV.

In leave it to beaver, Andy griffith, even Happy days Lying was a bad thing.
Now in current sitcoms even on the disney channel Lying is a major part of the shows.

 

[Paulie]

Ahh yes TV.

In leave it to beaver, Andy griffith, even Happy days Lying was a bad thing.
Now in current sitcoms even on the disney channel Lying is a major part of the shows.

We were just talking about this at work last week.

It seems like every fucking kids show episode involves someone sneaking around and doing something they shouldn't be doing, covering their ass on it, and then it's all a big laugh at the end.

Also, most kid shows involve the female characters wooing the males. That's not teaching our young female population to start being whores early on in life AT ALL

You can't even let them watch the fucking DISNEY channel anymore, it's ridiculous.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Nixon's greatest crime: lying to the American people.

Progressives greatest accomplishment: lying to the American people.

See the difference?

 

[eots]

Ever since the dept of doublespeak changed lying to misspoke it has lost a lot of its sting..

 

[uscitizen]

Nixon's greatest crime: lying to the American people.

Progressives greatest accomplishment: lying to the American people.

See the difference?

cases in point. Reagan apologized the the American people for lying to us.
Bush never did apologize.

How many remember Reagan apologizing for lying to us?

 

[Big Fitz]

Yes. It has. Kids I work with have no shame in lying right to your face. They do it out of entertainment value it seems at times.

When caught, they do not have any shame in what they've done and will go so far as to protest their punishments they've justly earned for it.

I see it all through the K-12. I see it all the time at the apartment complex I live in, with people lying to get into the secure building, lying about their rent being paid, lying they are residents to use the other facilities. Then when caught, they blame the people who caught them of being racists, sexists, assholes, tattletales, pigs... you name it. They are the ones doing wrong.

Then they slink away in delusional righteous indignation, blaming everyone but themselves for their predicament... even if they are being hauled away in the back of a squad.

Realtivist morality. Gotta love it. If it feels good, it IS good. :rollseyes:

 

[peach174]

Yep! I am really sick and tired of all the lies, TV, Government, News. Having to look for the truth instead of recieving factual information.
It started with the divide and conquer strategy over 40 yrs. ago and has just keept getting worse and worse. Now it's gotten totally out of control.

 

[Big Fitz]

Nixon's greatest crime: lying to the American people.

Progressives greatest accomplishment: lying to the American people.

See the difference?

cases in point. Reagan apologized the the American people for lying to us.
Bush never did apologize.

How many remember Reagan apologizing for lying to us?

You have a bit of a obsession with Reagan bashing don't you?

Where's your condemnation for convicted perjurer Bill Clinton?

 

[uscitizen]

Nixon's greatest crime: lying to the American people.

Progressives greatest accomplishment: lying to the American people.

See the difference?

cases in point. Reagan apologized the the American people for lying to us.
Bush never did apologize.

How many remember Reagan apologizing for lying to us?

You have a bit of a obsession with Reagan bashing don't you?

HUH? I admired Reagan for his admission, reason for lying and apology. that was one time the buck did stop there.

Clowntoon was a typical lying politician. He was slick willie.
( I noticed you edited that in after I quoted)

 

[Big Fitz]

cases in point. Reagan apologized the the American people for lying to us.
Bush never did apologize.

How many remember Reagan apologizing for lying to us?

You have a bit of a obsession with Reagan bashing don't you?

HUH? I admired Reagan for his admission, reason for lying and apology. that was one time the buck did stop there.

Clowntoon was a typical lying politician. He was slick willie.
( I noticed you edited that in after I quoted)

Sokay, Okay, I respect you're on an even keel when it comes to clinton... Maybe it's just cause of the reagan thread this seemed the case.

 

[uscitizen]

You have a bit of a obsession with Reagan bashing don't you?

HUH? I admired Reagan for his admission, reason for lying and apology. that was one time the buck did stop there.

Clowntoon was a typical lying politician. He was slick willie.
( I noticed you edited that in after I quoted)

Sokay, Okay, I respect you're on an even keel when it comes to clinton... Maybe it's just cause of the reagan thread this seemed the case.

np

 

[edthecynic]

To paraphrase George Costanza:

"It isn't a lie if you believe it."

That is the rationalization CON$ use when they play dumb, learned from Reagan.

We did not, repeat, did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 11/13/86

A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true. But the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 3/4/87

 

[uscitizen]

Ahh someone does remember Reagan apologizing. Well mostly.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Yes lying has become acceptable in our society. Big Fitz had some example. No question that students in school and university believe that cheating is merely another tool in their success box. Situational ethics and morality separated by character (family, church, work, friends, school, etc) all have their own "moralities."

The one lie we tolerated was the soldier or policeman or fireman, etc, who died in the line of duty. The locker and belongings of the deceased would always be "sanitized" of letters, photos, etc., that might cause hurt to the spouse and family and friends. In the military, we were very, very careful about this type of "lie."

Today deceit seems to be acceptable.

 

[uscitizen]

Yep Jake and I feel it is actually one of America's major problems.

It contributes to and causes so many other problems.

 

[Big Fitz]

lying being accepted in society is the ethical slippery slope so many have warned about. If you do not teach it as being unacceptable and punishable, then be disciplined enough to enforce it, it will get worse and worse until the limit is reached and you WILL enforce standards on lying.

We have progressed to a point in this nation's history where criminals and traitors are allowed to go free because we as a society do not have the moral rectitude and outrage capable of punishing someone appropriately for doing horrible things. We've forgotten that without the switch (meaning painful punishment), the child quickly runs amok and grows up to be the sociopath they were permitted to be as a youth.

"It's all good", has been an expression that has forgiven uncountable acts of moral depravity and evil. As a society, we need to return to a time that a lying politician is drummed out of government forever. A businessman who cheats the public be punished in accordance to the scale of his crime. A sports hero be stripped of his position and lauds (Michael Vick was a good start).

A society that forgives everything for nothing will soon fall into chaos and be conquered by those who have not forgotten what the backbone of a strong society is: Discipline of clear moral codes and laws. This is something we have not done well as a nation since the 1950's and the pendulum is going to start swinging back the other way, as we've gone too far. We've thrown away our American Society since then... whittling it away with compassion for multi-culturalism which is nothing more than societal chaos. No nation can survive this for long. A dominant culture will win out and crush all the others. That is the way of things for all of human history.

Condemnation, shame, shunning, a certain demand for uniformity of discipline... all these things are unpleasant tools of a society with a strong ethical core. Without them, there is no threat to those who choose to disregard society's norms. Do we need to go back as far as we used to be say in Colonial times? No... There's a balance point somewhere in between we can find. But if this problem isn't addressed in a rational manner, it will be forced by an irrational manner and go too far.

Societies and cultures swing back and forth on this pendulum. You can see it throughout history in every nation that has lasted more than a couple centuries. We've come to the end of a VERY liberal and permissive time. The next few generations, suffering under the pains of excessive license will be swinging back the other way. The question is one of speed and scope. The more resistance to moving back to the more placid middle needs to lessen lest we all suffer more.

 

[uscitizen]

fitz, are you trying to blame lyiing on liberals and alluding that conservatives do not lie?

 

[ABikerSailor]

You want to know why it's permissible to lie? I'll tell you..........

The people always look to the politicians to be statesmen and tell the truth. For the most part that was true for a while, but then they found that if they bent the truth just a little bit (after all.....they weren't lying outright), they could spin it towards favor for their candidate.

But......just like everything else, bending the truth was the exception, then it became the rule, and that is where the lies started.

Just like the GOP thinks Obama is a Kenyan Muslim, and over 31 percent of them believe this to be absolute gospel.

Just another example of someone getting sucked into their own spin machine.