Lies Lead to Bigger Lies

A recent study discovered what many of us already knew. The more a person lies, the bigger the lies get and the guilt associated with lying gets less.

Neuroscientists at the University College London’s Affective Brain Lab put 80 people in scenarios where they could repeatedly lie and get paid more based on the magnitude of their lies. They said they were the first to demonstrate empirically that people’s lies grow bolder the more they fib.

“You can think of this as a slippery slope with what begins as small acts of dishonesty escalating to much larger ones,” said study lead author Neil Garrett, now a neuroscience researcher at Princeton University. “It highlights the potential dangers of engaging in small acts of dishonesty on a regular basis because these can escalate to much larger ones further down the line.”

University of Massachusetts psychology and brain sciences Professor Robert Feldman stated: “The results provide clues as to how people may become more convincing liars with practice, and it clearly suggests the danger of tolerating small, white lies, which can escalate into greater and greater levels of deception.”

With the election approaching the lies our politicians are telling are increasing. What I don’t understand is why we are even considering voting for someone who lies to us.

I’ve talked with many people who are certain THEIR lying candidate is the best for the job, for us and for the country.

In many cases these people weren’t supporting their current candidate in the primaries. However, once the candidate received the nomination from their party all of their objections suddenly became non-issues and they are fully supporting the candidate that six months ago they considered unacceptable.

I am constantly told that “everyone lies” and that lies “make life easier” and that “no one could ever get elected if he or she tells the truth.” The first two statements are lies. The second may be true but if so why do we want to vote for someone who isn’t telling us the truth? Why did we watch the debates if we believe both candidates were lying?

If you are voting for the candidate who is telling you the lies you want to believe but you don’t believe they are telling the truth what difference does what they say make?

Truth is important in relationships and politics. My brother and I have been flipping coins for over 40 years to resolve issues or to decide who makes a decision. Keep in mind these are relatively simple issues. Who pays for lunch or where are we eating are suitable for a coin flip. Real issues should be based on facts.

This is important because in forty years of flipping coins WE HAVE NEVER USED A COIN. One of us will flip an imaginary coin and decide if it is heads or tails. The other will say, “Heads I pay, “or “heads you chose”, or “tails is fast food.”   The decision of the flip is final and neither of us has ever questioned the integrity of the flip.

If you can’t trust someone why would you even want to be with them? More importantly, if you can’t trust someone, why would you even consider giving them the most powerful job in the world and giving them control of your life and the future of your children?