German vs. American Honesty

Last week in Priesthood meeting the topic was honesty. The instructor gave, as example of dishonesty, when an American is asked, "How are you?" and answers, "Fine." Americans see this as being polite. Germans see this as being dishonest or at least insincere. (The same word, Ehrlichkeit, is used for both honesty and sincerity.) Many American value politeness above honesty. Many Germans value honesty above politeness. While I do not want to advocate rudeness, I do note that I can recall more lessons on honesty than politeness.

Still a Good Policy

Victor Davis Hanson has some interesting commentary about how we have become a nation of liars (with numerous examples). He ends giving some reasons not to lie:

The majority has to tell the truth — to the IRS, to the police, to the DA, to the census — if a consensual society is to work. You readers tell the truth so that the society can survive an [insert name of liar here] or [insert a different liar's name here]. Average people must speak honestly or our elites’ lies will overwhelm, even destroy us.

If you have been in a place where certain people could not be trusted to tell the truth, then you know that little if anything can get done.

Two, this often sordid, sometimes beautiful world is not the end. There is transcendence. Lies damage our soul. Selling out in the here and now has consequences later on. If you are religious, your immortal soul is lost. If you are not, at least consider that your legacy, heritage, and remembrance are forever ruined. Ask the ghost of Stephen Ambrose. What good was all that money, all those interviews if based on a lie? All the insight and delight that he brought millions of readers was tarnished. And for what, exactly?

 Do you really want to leave a legacy of lying?

We must try to tell the truth, not to doctor films, edit tapes, erase talking points, or lie before Congress, fabricate heroic war records, or invent false sources. Again, why? Because we seek to do the right thing with the full resignation that in the here and now we will often still lose and will lose often and gladly telling the truth.

And we must do so when all about us are shredding and forging documents and lying to us and about us. To do otherwise is to forfeit the respect of others and ourselves.

Reading Yahya ibn Adi II

In The Reformation of Morals, Yahya ibn Adi distinguishes between virtues which should be observed and developed by everyone, virtues which pertain to commoners, and those which pertain to the elite classes. Yahya recognized that sometimes those in positions of power are in situations where they have to balance their adherence to ideals with reality of the good of society.

One of the virtues that Yahya ibn Adi considers is ṣidqu-l-lahja, literally righteousness of the tongue, or honesty:

It is giving information about something as it actually is. This moral quality is to be considered good as long as it does not lead to some ruinous damage.

Thus one might expect that rulers would find themselves in a position where lying would be more appropriate for them. But this is not the case:

Truthfulness is to be considered good for all people, but it is best for kings and important people. As a matter of fact, lying will never suit them.

So if truthfulness is best for important people, why is it so rare among them?


[Quotes from Yahya ibn Adi, The Reformation of Morals, trans. Sidney H. Griffith (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2002), 38-41.

Today's Maxwell Quote

From (We Will Prove Them Herewith [1982], p. 104):

Lies are wearying: "She hath wearied herself with lies. . . ." (Ezekiel 24:12.) So are the exacting mental computations that go with dissembling and the extra efforts required in the shading of the truth.