Comments on: A Half Truth is Still a Whole Lie (Yiddish Proverb)

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:13:41 +0000

OK, I finally have a minute to respond, Nicole! In the case of complimenting a bride on her wedding day, I don’t believe one would do that to avoid conflict – the purpose would be to make the bride feel nice and happy on her special day. But if you can come up with an example (as you have) where not hurting another person’s feelings has self-interest mixed in, then I believe, as you said, the slippery slope would exist and the situation is no longer as simple as I put it in the post. (BTW, I love your “I’ve never seen you so beautiful” example – it’s a nice way to be safe with both feelings and honesty).
But sometimes it does have to be one or the other. In the case of hiding Jews in Nazi Poland – this example – according to Jewish law is in a totally different category as it’s an issue of loss of innocent life and therefore, according to the principle of “pikuach nefesh” nearly all mitzvahs get overriden to save the life of an innocent.
In the example of the murderous friend hiding from the police – we need more information here. Does the friend live in a place with a just government or a corrupt one? If the murderous friend killed out of self-defense and lives in a place where there’s a just government, hand him over – he should end up OK. If the government is corrupt – hide him, since he won’t get a fair trial. If he’s just a flat out murderer – hand him over in that case too.
To sum things up – since my blog posts are short (and I hope sweet!) I tried to keep things simple, despite the fact, as you’ve pointed out, that these issues can get quite complex.

By: Allison

Allison — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:48:59 +0000

Sorry, Donna, I have no clue how these things work. Is anyone out there using Google reader successfully with this blog?

By: Allison

Allison — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:36:25 +0000

You raise some interesting points, Nicole, but I am raising some interesting children who happen to be starting a week (plus) vacation from school quite imminently. So I look forward to addressing your comment soon, but probably not until the kiddos are back on their normal schedule!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:45:15 +0000

Often times protecting another’s feelings is about us wanting to avoid conflict, which is cowardice or an emotional weakness on our part. That slope can still be there for us to slide down if we hide behind the excuse “I don’t want to hurt them;” like so many relationships plagued with adultery because one partner couldn’t bring themselves to hurt the other and break up before starting another relationship. We must distance ourselves from all lies–even if it seems the lie is not for our own benefit. But beauty is certainly relative, and her own wedding day is likely the most beautiful that any woman has looked in her life. So to say, “I’ve never seen you so beautiful.” Is a great compliment and in no way a lie. Perhaps a more difficult scenario to consider is when a lie could save lives. If, let’s say, someone were hiding someone else from persecution (think Jews in the attic in Nazi Poland), and they were asked simply “are you hiding people in the attic?” Again, it could be argued that this lie is very self-interested as the shelterers would be arrested or killed if they’re discovered, but obviously more at stake for the people hiding. What if someone shelters a murderous friend from the police? How do we determine when the lie is ok? And if it’s not, how do we reconcile sending innocents to their death?

By: Donna W

Donna W — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:01:26 +0000

I wonder why I can’t get your site to show up on Google reader? You show on Bloglines, but I don’t like it as well.