There are two challenges to honesty that I’ve found difficult to address:
1) You’re hiding Jews in your basement from the Nazis, and the SS come to your door asking if you’re hiding Jews, do you say yes?
2) Your child is dying of a serious illness and asks “Daddy, am I going to die?” Do you tell her the truth?
In this video, I address the main question of is there ever a good time to lie? Or in other words: is it ever better to be dishonest rather than honest?
2 Responses
An interesting fact about the Second War that I heard, was that a Jewish asked for help from a German, and this person didn’t like lying.
So he said, go and hide under the table. After that, he opened the back door slightly and left it open.
When the soldier knocked on his door and asked him if he saw any Jewish. He answered: Yes, and there is one hiding right now under my table.
The soldier could see through the house that the back door was opened, and he deduced that the Jew had gone out the back door, and then he left.
Interesting. Before I start writing, I thought that was a good use of solving a problem without lying. And as I was writing I could notice the manipulation that happened, and I started wondering if at the end was all about manipulation and lies, somehow.
Yeah there is no ideal scenario there, but at least you’re thinking outside the box with that one. Rather than just straight lying, they’re trying to find another way