Is it ever OK to lie?
Everybody lies - and what a mess that causes.
That’s the view of multi award-winning writer Steven Moffat as he takes stock of the characters in his most recent hit Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ drama, Inside Man.
The highly-anticipated thriller follows the mysteriously interlinked lives of a prisoner on death row, a vicar, a journalist and a maths teacher who happens to be trapped in a cellar.
Moffat hosts companion podcast Obsessed With… Inside Man on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds along with Dolly Wells, who plays Janice, and they go deep behind-the-scenes to explore the show’s themes and reveal buried secrets.
“What is lying?” Moffat asks on the podcast. “It’s making yourself the author of events and thinking you’re entitled to alter what has happened to something better so you can take control.
“But,” he concludes about a lead character, “I don’t think they’re bad – they’re just a relatively typical person.”
The case for acceptance
The protagonists in Inside Man are just ordinary people faced with extraordinary choices – and lying is central to the plot.
“It’s the ultimate arrogance,” claims Moffat on Obsessed With…
But it is part of being human and even ‘white lies’ to protect people’s feelings can be delivered by children as young as seven. Harvard Professor of Psychology Felix Warneken used an experiment to demonstrate that children will lie to show empathy. When faced with poor pieces of artwork produced by a stranger, the children displayed “prosocial” behaviour to protect that adult's feelings.
Warneken said there was no negative impact from telling the truth to these bad artists – it’s just the children wanted the adults to feel better about themselves. He argued that people are often trying to resolve conflicting priorities of honesty and kindness, and therefore for him it is actually a good sign developmentally when children lie in this way.
In this scenario, advocates would argue there is nothing positive to be gained by telling the truth. Blunt honesty here, would only cause hurt and pain to the target.
And people lie like that all the time.
When you can’t understand why someone bought you that Christmas present but you smile and thank them warmly. When someone makes you a dreadful meal but they’ve been chained to the hob all day. When your child has started the violin but you ignore their horrible racket and choose to encourage them.
Similarly, lies can be used to protect others from other types of harm. Where’s the line? Is it at least understandable to be dishonest to help someone escape punishment, even if you don’t agree with it?
In Inside Man, the characters wrestle with exactly this predicament.
The case against
On Obsessed With… Moffat surveys the full series and concludes: “It’s vanity beyond vanity, even if not for profit, or for ego or for own benefit. If there is a moral to this story – just don’t lie.”
If there is a moral to this story – just don’t lieSteven Moffat
For this view, lying, whatever the justification, just doesn’t wash – but it does make for great TV.
Regarding a scene characterised by deceit in episode one, Wells comments, “It was like a dance and I really enjoyed that. It’s so frustrating to watch and hopefully people will be shouting at the telly!”
The case against lying is obvious. It erodes trust, damages relationships and infects society. Just consider the furore over Partygate earlier this year. We detest it when we perceive others have been deceptive.
And what are the main reasons people lie?
An overriding motive is self-protection - to protect how we are perceived by other people and to avoid the consequences of what actually happened. It’s a selfish motive and yet so easy to do.
Lying is also used to manipulate other people. What we say and do affects those around us, usually adversely, and people who lie in this way are mainly interested in personal gain.
published in Nature Neuroscience also argued the more we lie, the bigger the lies become. It found our brains end up “on a slippery slope” with small, seemingly insignificant lies morphing into far greater difficulties. This study did however suggest those ‘prosocial’ lies told for the benefit of others did not cause the same negative cognitive impact.
So, how to reconcile this? Are there occasions when lying is justified, or like Moffat says, is it just “arrogance”?
Ultimately, lying is a personal choice dictated by personal circumstance.
Like the characters in Inside Man, we have to make up our own minds about where the line lies – and then hope we make the right call.
