Ru wrote:
"Not lyimg is not even a jewish or christian commandment. I have only found such a commandment in buddhism and certainly not in the forum rules.
If you know of western scripture that commands us to be honest, I would appreciate learning of it."
However, one commandment says "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." That might be taken to mean "against thy neighbor" directly ... or indirectly. Lies for profit which cause thy neighbor to lose.
Why is my neighbor? a disciple asked. I guess the Samaritan was his answer. So you might choose to treat some persons as your enemy, not your neighbor. But maybe lying to their detriment is not loving them. Being a nasty, unfair, unreasonable, oppressive person is much more accepted in our society, if one has enough money, than, for example, gay marriage, AND most "conservatives" help keep it that way.
A conservative might also be in favor of slavery, flat earth, rule only by brute force, the biggest gorilla has the most wives... all those highbrow things that conservatives take credit for. Also, they pride themselves on being impervious to rational argument except that which appeals to the rationality of blunt self-interest.
Ru wrote:
Only science and law have honesty commandments as far as I know in the west, and they are continually broken, esp in the practice of law.
"Continually" is not "continuously,"(Gott sei dank!).
I have written about deception in life at
http://www.bio.net/hypermail/bio-info/bio-info.199507/0004.html
Also, I would add that power gradients which are too steep give license to deceive in self-defense. |