Everyone’s been making a really big deal about Joe “You Lie!” Wilson’s outburst during Obama’s address to Congress last week. Some people say this was irresponsible, and Wilson should be more respectful of those he disagrees with, especially given he is supposed to be serving as a role model to Americans.
Others are embracing Wilson’s outburst (there are at least three different versions of the “You Lie!” bumper sticker). Wilson himself has issued an apology for his exclamation, though it was one of those political apologies where he still defends his statement (it reminded me a bit of Obama’s “I should have calibrated my words better” apology).
But in Wilson’s defense, he was addressing a politician. And when you’re talking to a politician, “You lie” is often a valid thing to say. As a matter of fact, statistically speaking, “You lie” is often a valid thing to say to pretty much anybody.
A recent study conducted by Fox Entertainment (for the very academic purpose of promoting the DVD release of the “Lie to Me” TV series) found the average person lies at least three times per day. More specifically, it found women lie about three times per day and men lie twice as often.
Really, Fox Entertainment? Twice as often? Well, that can’t be right.
Fortunately for guys everywhere, the University of Virginia published a famous study that found men and women lie in roughly equal proportions (Ha! I knew it!). This happens to amount to one lie per day, on average.
But at Mississippi State, we have a little thing called the Honor Code. And it specifically says that as an MSU student, one must not “lie, cheat or steal.” So in the span of a typical undergrad’s four (OK, let’s say five) years here, that means there are an average of 1,825 lies he or she must specifically opt not to tell. Is this reasonable? Are MSU students that much better at being honest than the rest of the world?
What’s more, the University of Virginia study found for every malicious lie, the average person told between 10 and 20 white lies. So let’s say hypothetically a friend of mine gets a haircut that looks bad, but I don’t want to hurt her feelings. So I say it looks fine. Does that constitute an Honor Code violation?
Realistically, it’s unlikely people will really consider white lies to be immoral. But maybe they should. Child psychiatrist Gail Edelsohn says children hear adults telling white lies, which encourages them to lie themselves. They view this as a tacit acceptance of using dishonesty to avoid conflict. And that transfers over into children lying to avoid blame for stealing a cookie from the cookie jar or to get another serving of dessert because they “totally haven’t had anything sweet today.”
OK, so some kid lying about his dessert isn’t exactly a life-or-death situation. But when that kid grows up and starts claiming that he “totally verified the structural integrity of that suspended walkway,” and then when the walkway collapses and kills a hundred people, that is a life-or-death situation (this actually happened, by the way).
I’m not saying that you should be brutally honest all the time. I wouldn’t tell my hypothetical friend with the bad haircut that it looks like a blindfolded monkey cut her hair. But I might (as tactfully as possible) say her old haircut looked better, so she’ll know next time she’s getting a haircut. And if she’s a good hypothetical friend, she’ll appreciate the honesty.
McNeill Williford is a senior majoring in industrial engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].