As we begin our next unit on the courts, I found a very interesting article which I have included below and I would like for all of you to read. After reading the article, give me your response. If you are lying, could it be conveyed as actually breaking the law? Or, do you think lying is a part of "freedom of speech" which many Americans tend to agree with unfortunately these days?
Lying Article
19 comments:
I think that no matter what, lying is wrong. I do not think under any means is lying considered freedom of speech. Yes, people lie here and there. SOmetimes it's to help a friend or to hide the truth from a parent and those are the little fib's that can, in some cases, be viewed as tolerable or acceptable. When things start getting more serious, however, like in a court case, I think that lying is definitely going against the law and should not be acceptable. In the begining of a case, you place your hand on the Bible and say tha tyou swear to tell the truth. If this action did not occur than sure, go ahead and lie and see if you get away with it. If you place your hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth and then do not folow through, to me, that is breaking the law. You agree to tell the truth infront of all the officials and then go against your word and aren't honest with what happened. If this is not breakinbg the law, then what's to stop many others from lying in court to help themselves or someone else and then justice not being served? That would not be fair to a potential victim or any citizens of American who count on our official to keep America safe. Lying in any case is wrong but in a more serious situation, it should definitely be tried as breaking law. However, there are times where you typical teenager needs to lie to cover up for a friend or lie to help out a sibling. In these less serious cases, I do not think it should be thought of as such crucial matter because there is no one in the world who has not said a lie at one point or another in their life. We are not Jesus, so therefore we are not perfect. Although lying is wrong, it depends on the location and extent of the lie being said.
It depends on the kind of lie you are telling. If you are telling a little white lie to avoid hurting someones feelings then it is not a crime but personally for me, when Alvarez lied about rescuing the American Ambassador or being in the marines should be considered a crime because it is a disgrace to claim you did something so heroic but really did not. So many men in women are risking their lives for our safety and protection and sometimes get little recognition for it but then we have people who lie about it for no reason at all and get attention for their lie. I absolutely disagree with the statement that lying is a part of freedom of speech because every right we have has limits. For example, just because we have freedom of speech does not mean we can say we want to kill the president. There are definitely degrees on how bad a lie may be and telling someone you play hockey professionally should not be something tried on but when you are lying about serving in the Marines and rescuing hostages in Iran is very upsetting to me because it makes it seem like Alvarez is belittling the sacrifice men and women do for our country and us.
I find this question extremely interesting yet at the same time very hard to answer. When I first think of a lie, I think yes a lie is bad, however when I think about it that is not always the case. Yes it is true that the act of lying is bad, but when you look at the intentions of that lie the act can be turned into a good decision. For example, let’s say you lie about hiding Jews in your house during the Holocaust. Yes the act is bad however; the intention was to save their lives, which in turn makes it a good act. However it gets to a point where it is hard to tell whether a lie is good or bad, or in this article, whether or not the government is taking away our right of freedom of speech. Dealing with this article, yes the lie was bad, but how far can the government take it. If one lie is bad, then shouldn’t another lie be just as bad? My concern is how the government is going to make the decision between what they consider an illegal lie or a legal lie. It is not an easy concept to grasp, and I personally don’t know how I feel when it comes to answering the question is a lie a crime. This question branches off into many different parts and it is hard to fix one part without affecting another part and being fair about it at the same time.
I think with lots of other ideas in the Constitution, there are limits on them. For example, we have the freedom of speech, yet we cannot go on public television saying swear words and other things unless we wanted to be fined by the FCC. I believe this can also apply to lying, but only to an extent. The man who lied about winning a Medal of Honor definitely went too far. I think lying is not completely horrible, but I also do not think that the extreme cases should go without consequences. I think that the man who lied deserves consequences because he went too far. Lying like that should not be acceptable because it is offensive to anyone who actually received a Medal of Honor. I believe this country prides itself on the military and honors our troops and though people may have a Constitutional right to say what they want, there is a point where someone can cross the line, which should be viewed as unacceptable.If there is a law about not being able to lie about Medals of Honor and other things regarding that topic, then I think that the guy should be reprimanded and get the punishment. He broke the law, and like anyone else who breaks the law, he has to deal with the consequence. It really disgusts me that someone would even lie about that and the only thought in my mind is that he should get in trouble for it.
I think that overall, lying is wrong. But every lie depends on circumstance. If you lie to help a friend out, then it may be acceptable. But if you lie and say that you received a medal of honor that you flat out did not receive then no, that is not right at all. But I also don't think that you can be punished for this unless you are under oath. The freedom of speech amendment tells us that you may say what you want, within limits. And lying is within those limits because it is not a threat to anyone. It may not be an exactly 'good' thing to do, but it is in no way illegal. I think that punishing this man in any way, other than humiliation from being 'that idiot who lied about a congressional medal of honor', is completely against his rights and in no way acceptable. The lie could be horrible, belittling, and disgraceful, but that is no legal reason to infringe upon a man's rights.
I agree with everyone that in most situations, lying in wrong. However, under the Constitution we are able to say whatever we want and are protected. I agree that in a few special cases, lying is okay. However, the government should not be able to call lying a crime. In other certain cases, such as fraud or libel, lying can be considered a crime. However, most lying is protected in the Constitution. The government should not be able to control what we say and punish us for it. Alvarez' lies were obviously wrong, but it should not be punishable by law. Punishing him for what he said is infringing on his rights. The response he got from the public for saying that is enough punishment already. Even though it is wrong in many ways, the government should not be able to punish him for it. Freedom of speech is one of our basic rights as Americans and the government should not be able to have the power to change that right in any way by saying that lying is a crime.
In most circumstances, lying is wrong. It is morally wrong to lie to people and this fact should be transferred into our everyday lives. However, some lies are bigger than others. There are minor lies such as telling your parents that you went to sleep earlier than you actually did. On the complete other side of the spectrum, there are lies, such as lying in court, that are much more extreme. Lies of this manner are criminal offenses. It is hard to decide if lying can always be called a criminal offense though. In situations such as hiding Jews in your home during the Holocaust, lying was the morally right decision to make. The state could interpret lies like that as an crime though. Lies cannot be punished as a crime unless you are under oath. Otherwise, there is an infringement of all Americans' First Amendment right of freedom of speech. It is one of the most fundamental beliefs that our country was founded on and cannot be infringed on. Therefore, while lying is not usually the right thing to do, it cannot be punished by law.
Lying is a terrible thing that pretty much everyone does everyday. Everyone lies it is a part of human nature and it not going to stop no matter if it is illegal or not. I, however do not think lying should be illegal because it does violate our freedom of speech. Everyone has the right to say whatever they want whether it is the truth or not. Also, if it is a little white lie odds are that no one will figure out that it is a lie. In the situation in the article where someone said they won the congressional medal of honor obviously someone found out they were lying and the person is now viewed as a lier. With the media today, if someone does tell a major lie especially if it involves the government or military in some way, news groups will figure that out. I think the only consequence for lying that the person know they cannot be trusted with the truth. Also, there are some lies where it is hard to tell if they are lying or just not aware they are lying and that is going to be hard to prove if it is a crime. Overall i think lying is bad, but is not a crime because people already suffer consequences from lying. I am sure the person who said they won the medal never thought his lie would be posted on the internet.
I think that no matter what lying is wrong, yet we all are guilty of doing it. In a way, it has become a norm in our society which is sad. But we do have the freedom of speech to be able to say what we want. With the amount of lies that are presented on a daily basis, where do we decide which ones are illegal or not? And Congress/the courts have enough issues to deal with and not enough time to deal with people and their lying habits sadly. I think that this issue goes passed the responsibility of Congress or Government, the only one that is responsible is the person that lies. Whether people believe in doing the right thing, we all have a conscience. We have to live with ourselves and in the end lying will just end up hurting us. So yes maybe you can get away with it, but chances are you will feel bad in the end or someone with find out. When people start to find out that you are a liar, it is very hard to gain peoples trust back. So I hate to say it, but I don't think that lying should be conveyed as breaking the law. Our government is in no position to take more problems on at this time and the lines would be pretty "blurry" to draw. I don't thing lying is a good thing to do under ANY means, but it is kind of unstoppable. So it is a freedom of our speech, but remember when you lie, your not just lying to others, but yourself.
Unfortunately, I believe that freedom of speech should be 100% pure, unless in a court of law under oath. If we do not blanket statement this, there will be companies and other people who try and suppress others' freedom of speech. There is no reason that would negate this freedom of speech as it is the one and only thing that allows our country to be a free country. If there is an oppression of freedom of speech. The reason that the courts are excluded are because that there is no way to produce evidence if everyone can lie. Now, because the freedom of speech is absolute, that means that there is no way to prosecute the liars. Yes, those who lie about their service are despicable and disgusting, but if they are not allowed to say what they want, others will could be suppressed as well. No matter what sleazy things that the public has to deal with, I think that freedom of speech should be number one in the nation. The public doesn't have to believe everything they hear.
Lying is obviously something that people shouldn't do. When it comes to telling white lies, your intentions are in a good place. However, lies told in government are most likely connected with corruption and fraud. Therefore, I feel that it shouldn't be considered freedom of speech because most politicians who are involved in government are lying about certain issues that could affect others or are only trying to protect themselves from getting caught. As for lying about getting a medal from serving in the military, that should definitely be considered a crime. For one, you are pretending to be one of the few Americans who are being honored for their heroic efforts and taking credit for what they did. Therefore, you are plagarizing and that is against the law. In conclusion, I hope that the government will draw the line and recognize what serious issues are and be able to punish those for breaking the law.Overall, lying in any government issue or court setting is considered breaking the law. However, if it's just a white lie that doesn't really matter or affect others, then it shouldn't be considered a crime.
Lying is wrong and is not part of our freedom of speech as Americans, especially for public officials that the people depend on to serve our country. I think in certain personal situations lying in to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or to be polite is acceptable, and lying about small things that do not involve personal gain and do not harm others is also permissible. I think that when a politician lies to a large group of people they are just feeding the common view of dishonesty that most Americans associate with politicians. Everyone dislikes discovering that they have been lied to, so we should respect each other by telling the truth. I think that in cases of lying in court, to public or government officials, or for personal gain in the working world (this would include a politician trying to win an election or someone lying about their credentials to get a job) lying should be illegal like how perjury already is a serious offense. It is particularly wrong for people to lie when it lessens the accomplishments of others such as the example in this article with the Congressional Medal of Honor. I definitely do not think that serious cases of lying are protected under the freedom of speech, but I do think that the majority of lies told in our society today do not fall under the category that should be considered illegal.
Trustworthiness is very important to me. Therefore, I have a very low tolerance for lying. Under rare circumstances is lying justified. I especially feel that lying in court, after swearing on the Holy Bible, is indeed breaking the law. In the case of Alvarez, he committed a crime by saying he received the Medal of Honor. Not only is that breaking the law, but it is extremely disrespectful to those who actually worked to earn that metal. Although lying is breaking the law, I don't think it is a federal crime. Therefore, I don't believe that punishment should be that of a big crime, like seeing jail time or anything like that. It should have consequences though. Lying should not be considered part of "freedom of speech" because I think that is stretching the freedom that we Americans have, to use it in a bad way. Therefore, taking advantage of that freedom, and lying, especially in court, should have lawful consequences.
This is a very difficult quesitno to answer and that articl was really interesting. When I first thing about it, I would say that lying is defintely wronmg. And it can also be considered a crim if yo ulie under oath in a court or if your witholding information from a court case or something. I think that the degree of wrongness of a lie depends on the circumstances. Everyone lie all the time and that's defintely not a good thing but I don't think that all of the little lies people tell should be considered crimes. I most definitely do not think that lying should be considered freedom of speech. Lies can be extrmely harmful and do serious damage and just because we have the freedom of speaking freely does noy mean that lying can be justified. Because we have freedom of speech we can say wheatever we want but that doesn't mean that we can go around lying all of the time and think its ok. Lying is most likely always morally wrong and I think that it can be considered as breaking the law under certain circumstances. We can't say that lying is always a crime because that is definietly not the case.
This is a very difficult quesitno to answer and that articl was really interesting. When I first thing about it, I would say that lying is defintely wronmg. And it can also be considered a crim if yo ulie under oath in a court or if your witholding information from a court case or something. I think that the degree of wrongness of a lie depends on the circumstances. Everyone lie all the time and that's defintely not a good thing but I don't think that all of the little lies people tell should be considered crimes. I most definitely do not think that lying should be considered freedom of speech. Lies can be extrmely harmful and do serious damage and just because we have the freedom of speaking freely does noy mean that lying can be justified. Because we have freedom of speech we can say wheatever we want but that doesn't mean that we can go around lying all of the time and think its ok. Lying is most likely always morally wrong and I think that it can be considered as breaking the law under certain circumstances. We can't say that lying is always a crime because that is definietly not the case.
This is a very difficult quesitno to answer and that articl was really interesting. When I first thing about it, I would say that lying is defintely wronmg. And it can also be considered a crim if yo ulie under oath in a court or if your witholding information from a court case or something. I think that the degree of wrongness of a lie depends on the circumstances. Everyone lie all the time and that's defintely not a good thing but I don't think that all of the little lies people tell should be considered crimes. I most definitely do not think that lying should be considered freedom of speech. Lies can be extrmely harmful and do serious damage and just because we have the freedom of speaking freely does noy mean that lying can be justified. Because we have freedom of speech we can say wheatever we want but that doesn't mean that we can go around lying all of the time and think its ok. Lying is most likely always morally wrong and I think that it can be considered as breaking the law under certain circumstances. We can't say that lying is always a crime because that is definietly not the case.
This is a very difficult quesitno to answer and that articl was really interesting. When I first thing about it, I would say that lying is defintely wronmg. And it can also be considered a crim if yo ulie under oath in a court or if your witholding information from a court case or something. I think that the degree of wrongness of a lie depends on the circumstances. Everyone lie all the time and that's defintely not a good thing but I don't think that all of the little lies people tell should be considered crimes. I most definitely do not think that lying should be considered freedom of speech. Lies can be extrmely harmful and do serious damage and just because we have the freedom of speaking freely does noy mean that lying can be justified. Because we have freedom of speech we can say wheatever we want but that doesn't mean that we can go around lying all of the time and think its ok. Lying is most likely always morally wrong and I think that it can be considered as breaking the law under certain circumstances. We can't say that lying is always a crime because that is definietly not the case.
This is a very difficult quesitno to answer and that articl was really interesting. When I first thing about it, I would say that lying is defintely wronmg. And it can also be considered a crim if yo ulie under oath in a court or if your witholding information from a court case or something. I think that the degree of wrongness of a lie depends on the circumstances. Everyone lie all the time and that's defintely not a good thing but I don't think that all of the little lies people tell should be considered crimes. I most definitely do not think that lying should be considered freedom of speech. Lies can be extrmely harmful and do serious damage and just because we have the freedom of speaking freely does noy mean that lying can be justified. Because we have freedom of speech we can say wheatever we want but that doesn't mean that we can go around lying all of the time and think its ok. Lying is most likely always morally wrong and I think that it can be considered as breaking the law under certain circumstances. We can't say that lying is always a crime because that is definietly not the case.
I think that lying is a really touchy subject that can be debated wither way for being right and wrong in different situations. Personally I think that there are different degrees of 'lying'. In order to help or benefit someone else, I think it would be right to lie. In the situation of just benefitting yourself for unjust reasons and for wrong purposed I think lying would be wrong. I do think that lying would be considered a 'freedom of speech'. Its a personal choice and liberty we have to decided our own actions and words. In personal situations we choose whether or not it is acceptable or the right place to you a lie. That would be our freedom. The only place I don't think lying would be a 'freedom of speech' would be in a court case, where you are sworn under oath to tell the truth. You are only asked to not lie to bring right judgement to someone who has committed a crime and should be punished justly. In this case, in law or in the court system, I think lying would be breaking the law. These are the major situations which we need to consider our conscience and make the right decisions.But even in little every day decisions to lie I think it all comes down to our conscience and what we thing is right.
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