Tag: Anthony Weiner

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On the Evil of Lying

By Jim Spiegel

These days a lot of liars are in the news.  Busted PED-user Ryan Braun not only repeatedly and emphatically denied his guilt but was self-congratulatory while meeting with the press after his successful appeal last year.  Check out Gregg Doyel’s excoriating piece on Braun.

And then Ryan_Braunthere’s Anthony Weiner.  In addition to his narcissism and sexual perversion, he’s a pathological liar.  How many lies have we heard from him?  One reporter with the Daily Beast counted 68 lies in just eight minutes during one interaction with the press.

So why is lying so offensive?  The best analysis of the evil of lying that I have seen comes from Charles Fried, former law professor at Harvard University (in his book Right and Wrong, chapter 3 [Harvard, 1978]).  According to Fried, being faithful to truth is fundamental to rationality and, therefore, morality.   This means believing on the basis of truth, rather than to choose truth.  Truth, Fried reminds us, is not owned by anyone in particular.  But to lie is to essentially to choose truth, to claim it as one’s own, and this contradicts rationality (and morality).

Fried also analyzes the evil of lying in terms of disrespect.  Rationality is the respect for truth.  Lying disrespects truth and so is fundamentally irrational.  And since moral agents must be rational and act rationally, lying is inimical to morality (which is to say it is immoral).  Furthermore, to lie is to disrespect others by undermining their interest in the truth.

Furthermore, Fried points 220px-Anthonyweinerout that the evil of lying can be analyzed in terms of the way it undermines community.  Language, he notes, is a communal affair, a means by which we share in rationality.  For language to work there must be a shared commitment to truth and morality.  To lie is to break that trust and thus is a blow to our communal bond of reason.

To Fried’s philosophical analysis, I would offer a theological point, which might be the most fundamental problem of all when it comes to lying.  Scripture tells us that God is truth (Jn. 14:6).  Of course, this point itself begs for careful analysis and interpretation.  But, whatever this means it surely implies that the concept of truth is somehow grounded in the divine and thus sacred.

Remembering these points about truth is crucial at times like these, when lies seem especially rampant among public figures.  I find it helpful not only to understand my own anger at liars but also as a reminder why I must remain solidly committed to believing, telling, and searching for truth in all domains of life.  For the commitment to truth is fundamental to what it means to be rational, moral, and religiously devout.

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Hodgepodge

By Jim Spiegel

Goodbye, Congressman Weiner — The last two weeks have we’ve seen American public life sink to a new low.  Finally, with Weiner’s resignation, we have some closure.  I was astonished at how many people defended the guy when the story first broke and he hemmed and hawed his way through interviews.  Then when he finally admitted the truth, there were yet others who insisted he didn’t need to resign.  Wow.  Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this story is how it reveals that our public threshold for shock and outrage continues to rise.  Recently I heard someone remark, “Our tolerance for sin rises with our tolerance for that same sin in our own lives.”  Scary thought.

Just Deserts — There are three different theories of punishment.  Retributivists maintain that we should punish criminals because it is what they deserve.  Deterrentists say that punishment properly aims to deter crime.  And reformativists argue that punishment is justified as a means of rehabilitating the criminal.  The fate of this rapist, severe though it is, just might satisfy the aims of all three paradigms.  In any case, I’d like to see more of them meet the same fate.

Mavs Over Heat — I’m on roll with my pro sports championship predictions, as the Mavericks defeated the Heat last week.  (Well, I was on roll, as just a couple days later the Boston Bruins knocked off the Vancouver Canucks for the NHL Stanley Cup—defying my prediction.  Oh well, all streaks eventually end.)  The Mavs’ win was doubly satisfying, at least for me.  Dirk Nowitzki finally “got his ring,” as sports journalists love to put it.  I’m just glad that now they’ll shut up about his “not winning the big one” (what a crock that is, not just here but in every case that hackneyed line is used to concoct a sports “story”—blecch!)  It’s also satisfying to see how the bluster of the “Three Kings of Miami” was not rewarded.  Remember LeBron’s talk last summer about winning eight championships?  I expect the Heat will win one eventually, perhaps more.  But King James will first need to take a cue from the Mavs’ owner, Mark Cuban, who actually shut his mouth and ate some humble pie, only after which did his team win one.

Vampire Weekend — Have you discovered the world’s best Ivy League, preppie-styled, chamber rock quartet?  If not, you need to check them out.  Their two albums are deservedly highly acclaimed.  And their videos are consistently innovative and fun.  Here are two of my faves:  A-Punk and Holiday.  And check out these live performances in the KCRW studio:  Ottoman, Run, Horchata, and California English.