Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
I consider lying to be on the spectrum of violence. If one can avoid physical violence by telling a lie, then it's justified. However if one is constantly telling white lies in order to avoid causing discomfort to themselves or others then I think there's some room for introspection about your motives and the emotional stability of the people around you.
Could you go further on that? I consider lying and violence apples and oranges, but the idea that they're part of a spectrum is interesting.
About white lies: it's interesting that you mentioned them since it's one of the situations where I actively avoid lying. For me a white lie is a form of belittlement; it's like saying "you aren't a rational human being, but a fragile little piece of junk, that would harm itself with the truth".
It depends on how one defines violence but personally I think of it as intentionally causing harm to others. It can be both physical or psychological. If you can de-escalate a threatening situation by telling a lie then I think that it's justifiable assuming the alternative would've been physical violence. I think rules like "don't lie" or "don't be violent" are good rules of thumb but not absolute. Almost nothing is. There's always exceptions to these rules. Another example that comes to mind is if a severely depressed and perhaps even suicidal person is showing you a painting they made and you don't like it at all. If you have a valid reason to worry that they legitimately can't handle the truth right now then you probably should lie. Again, you're intentionally causing harm (lying) but honesty would cause even greater harm so choosing the lesser one I think is justifiable.
It's a bit slippery slope argument but I think it applies in the most obvious extreme cases that might happen only a handful of times in ones lifetime if even that. I mostly don't believe in absolutes so that's why I hesitate to say that lying is always to be avoided. It's still a good rule of thumb though.
It might be a bit slippery slope, but it sounds practical. I personally don't consider them in the same spectrum but I don't see any inconsistency in doing so.
Thank you for the reply!