Is there a moral obligation to tell the truth when speaking to the news media?

[Revoltingest]

Honesty often gets in the way for criminals trying to cover up their crimes.

I advise not committing the crime in the first place.

 

[Father Heathen]

You ever tell a kid Santa's real?

No, actually. And I don't plan on doing that with my own son.

 

[BSM1]

No, actually. And I don't plan on doing that with my own son.

Tooth fairy? Superman?

 

[fantome profane]

Tooth fairy? Superman?

I liked the way Neil Degrasse Tyson handled that. The told his daughter that he had heard a story that if you put your tooth under the pillow ...

He didn’t tell her if the story was true or not. He didn’t lie.

 

[Revoltingest]

I liked the way Neil Degrasse Tyson handled that. The told his daughter that he had heard a story that if you put your tooth under the pillow ...

He didn’t tell her if the story was true or not. He didn’t lie.

If his intent were to instill the belief, then it would be dishonesty by prevarication...effectively a lie.

 

[Father Heathen]

Tooth fairy?

Nope.

Superman?

That's not even a thing.

 

[fantome profane]

If his intent were to instill the belief, then it would be dishonesty by prevarication...effectively a lie.

I think the intent is to instill a spirit of experimentalism - “let’s try it and see what happens”. And then later as the child grows and figures it out a spirit of skepticism.

 

[Revoltingest]

I think the intent is to instill a spirit of experimentalism - “let’s try it and see what happens”. And then later as the child grows and figures it out a spirit of skepticism.

That's reasonable.

 

[Willamena]

Some will be quick to point out that there is no law against lying to the press. And that is true. But what about morality, integrity? Do theses things not matter in the era of Trump?

Corey Lewandowski said in his Congressional testimony:
“I have no obligation to be honest with the media,"

Does he? Does anyone?

There is a moral obligation when speaking to the news media, as much as there is a moral obligation when speaking to anyone. Technically, just as much, as the media is everyone.

Corey's claim was that he may lie as he wishes.

 

[Willamena]

He said, "I have no obligation to be honest with the media because they are just as dishonest as everybody else," and he's certainly not wrong about the second part.

But that is tempered by our own intelligence, or at least it should be. When a media outlet makes a claim that causes dissonance, our internal grains of salt kick in.

 

[Willamena]

Do you feel a moral obligation to tell the truth when you post something on RF?

Absolutely. If I'm not here to speak my mind, then it's not my mind that I'm speaking.

 

[Willamena]

I think he didn't feel obligated to telling the media anything, truth or lie. None of us has that obligation; nor should the 'media' be entitled to that power.

Wait... wait... how is being told the truth a power that someone else has over you?

 

[Willamena]

I’ve no idea about the specifics of this example but I think the general principles are fairly clear regardless;

So what if he is? “The other kids did it first!” wasn’t a valid defence in the schoolyard and it isn’t a valid defence in adult life. I mean, couldn’t the media just reverse the argument; if politicians aren’t honest, the media has no obligation to be honest either. A rush to the lowest common denominator doesn’t benefit anyone.

Our own moral obligations and our own moral decisions (because even if we don’t have the obligation to do something, we can still choose to anyway), are independent of what anyone else does. If anything, other people doing the wrong thing can make it more important and significant for us to do the right one.

*polite applause*

 

[Willamena]

Sooo....your significant other, who has definitely put on an extra pound or three, ask: "Does this (insert item of clothing) make me look fat?" What do you say?

Three? Three isn't even noticeable. But even a partner who has thirty extra pounds can be attractive.

 

[Willamena]

You ever tell a kid Santa's real?

Virginia,

Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.

All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy.

Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus? You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your Papa to hire men to watch all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?

Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.

Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, or even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else as real and abiding.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, maybe 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the hearts of children.

Written by Francis P. Church in 1897

(Copy-pasted, not my own words)

 

[Willamena]

I liked the way Neil Degrasse Tyson handled that. The told his daughter that he had heard a story that if you put your tooth under the pillow ...

He didn’t tell her if the story was true or not. He didn’t lie.

Truthfully, he probably didn't have to explain to her that it was a story, and she would have understood. All he had to do was invoke the clause, "Once upon a time..."

 

[BSM1]

I think the intent is to instill a spirit of experimentalism - “let’s try it and see what happens”. And then later as the child grows and figures it out a spirit of skepticism.

Sooo...a lie is okay as long as you dress it in a lab coat. Why didn't he just tell his that he was paying for her tooth?

 

[BSM1]

Wait... wait... how is being told the truth a power that someone else has over you?

Seems the 'media' has taken a stance the we are obligated to answer their questions or else. We're not...

 

[BSM1]

Three? Three isn't even noticeable. But even a partner who has thirty extra pounds can be attractive.

Not when they are self conscious about their weight gain. They're not asking for a compliment, they're asking for validation. If the SO still felt attractive then the question would not even come up. Trust me, for a husband this is a virtual minefield...

 

[BSM1]

Virginia,

Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.

All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy.

Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus? You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your Papa to hire men to watch all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?

Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.

Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, or even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else as real and abiding.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, maybe 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the hearts of children.

Written by Francis P. Church in 1897

(Copy-pasted, not my own words)

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