Lies requiring new lies and having a risk of growing out of control is indeed a very fundamental reason for which “don’t lie” is part of my ethics. But it’s not an “absolute” ethical rule like “don’t kill”, “don’t torture” or “don’t use violence against someone you just disagree with”. Because there are many situations in which lying is worth the risk and the “inehrent” badness of not following the truth.
When my grandmother hid Jews during Nazi occupation, and answered “no, there is on one here” to the Gestapo officer asking her, she lied, and she indeed took a great risk—she was risking her life. But she definitely right to do so. Sure, arguing by WW2 for general ethics is well… not the wisest. WW2 was an exceptional situation, which justified exceptional means.
But I’ve a similar example in my own personal life. During the Rwanda genocide (I was then a teenager), my family hid in my home (for a few weeks) a Hutu whose whole family was killed, and who was himself threatened, because his family was helping the Tutsi to avoid the genocide. This guy was an “illegal alien”, and he could have been legally expelled from France, since, according to the legal authorities, he was a Hutu, and only Tutsi were endangered. To protect him I had to lie—like make excuses to not invite friends at home (since, well, teenagers tend to speak a lot, if the secret started to spread, it would quickly spread out of control, so even my friends were not allowed to know).
Lying is ethically bad, yes. But not near the level of endangering someone’s life, or risking to have him exposed to torture. Sadly, we live in a world in which sometimes have to lie to protect.
Lies requiring new lies and having a risk of growing out of control is indeed a very fundamental reason for which “don’t lie” is part of my ethics. But it’s not an “absolute” ethical rule like “don’t kill”, “don’t torture” or “don’t use violence against someone you just disagree with”. Because there are many situations in which lying is worth the risk and the “inehrent” badness of not following the truth.
When my grandmother hid Jews during Nazi occupation, and answered “no, there is on one here” to the Gestapo officer asking her, she lied, and she indeed took a great risk—she was risking her life. But she definitely right to do so. Sure, arguing by WW2 for general ethics is well… not the wisest. WW2 was an exceptional situation, which justified exceptional means.
But I’ve a similar example in my own personal life. During the Rwanda genocide (I was then a teenager), my family hid in my home (for a few weeks) a Hutu whose whole family was killed, and who was himself threatened, because his family was helping the Tutsi to avoid the genocide. This guy was an “illegal alien”, and he could have been legally expelled from France, since, according to the legal authorities, he was a Hutu, and only Tutsi were endangered. To protect him I had to lie—like make excuses to not invite friends at home (since, well, teenagers tend to speak a lot, if the secret started to spread, it would quickly spread out of control, so even my friends were not allowed to know).
Lying is ethically bad, yes. But not near the level of endangering someone’s life, or risking to have him exposed to torture. Sadly, we live in a world in which sometimes have to lie to protect.