The Cause and Effect of Telling Lies (Essay Sample)

TELLING LIES: CAUSE AND EFFECT.
Lies have become rampant in the present and the methods so sophisticated as a result of the society considering it a norm. The social fabric has been greatly damaged to an extent the lies are considered a legitimate survival mechanism and often go unpunished making it appealing as it attracts no or less consequences. The intense technological advanced has propelled the vice further in the present times making it easier and swifter.
A lie in the simplest term can be defined as the intentional misrepresentation of an account of actions or statements from an individual or an organization to gain favor or escape consequences from the other party.
The are two major categories of lies; lying to oneself and lying to others. Lying to oneself is too common but overlooked because it is a “debate” within oneself which contrast sharply with lying to others as it is mostly directed to another party and thus will be most noticeable as it affects the other party and the pain manifests by the hatred exhibited after the occurrence.
Most people don’t like lying but the circumstances and what they stand to gain with the hedonistic nature of human beings compel them to. Different people have different reasons for lying. The factors can be internally or externally triggered. The discussion below explores the different individual reasons.
First, majority of people lie to escape or get lesser punishment. As human beings, everyone wants their wrongdoing concealed and they achieve that by deliberately telling lies so as to paint a good image about themselves to others to dispel the perception of having a questionable character. Others especially adults do so to save face from embarrassment from their peers or colleagues at work.
Secondly, veiling benefits is another important trigger for lying to other people. This reason for lying takes place when an individual obtains a requite or a benefit but does not want to share with colleagues at work or even friends. For instance, at the work place, a supervisor lacking specific skills to complete an assignment gives the assignment to a junior employee to complete the task, then he/she presents the completed task for promotion without giving credit to the junior employee presenting it as his personal work.
Moreover, a majority of people lie to maintain confidentiality or secrecy of their personal lives and that of their family. This reason for lying is the most common on the spotlight as it keeps everything discreet. For instance, when someone lies about where they live, where their family resides or even whether they are married or not, they do this basically to protect their loved ones from any form of harm.
Lastly, people lie to test their ability to lie. In this dimension, people lie to see if they can make it lying and test if it can work out for them. For instance, a friend requests to leave her baby with you for sometime but instead of directly declining the request, you lie by saying you are on your way out to complete some errands in town which is not true.
As attractive as lies seem to be, and the benefits preempted to come with them, lies equally have negative effects. These effects include lowering trust, disrespect to others, addiction in lies and saving lives. The discussion below will therefore give a detailed understanding of each factor citing examples.
Lies have in the past and in the present damaged relationships both personal and at family level. This is attributed to the declining level of trust accorded to the liar by the occurrences that prompted the lies. Trust in