Honesty is (Probably) the Best Policy

It seems as though everyone is lying in the Casey Anthony trial. I'm curious to see what happens, because at this point I don't even know if the truth of what happened is even discernible. (For those who need an update, The Orlando Sentinel has a pretty good rundown of the case).

In short, it's a mess, and the media has undoubtedly made it worse. The case has been sensationalized to the point that the concept of a fair trial has pretty much flown out the window. People won't care about that, though, if the end result leads to "justice."

The problem is, justice too often has little to do with the truth.

For all that we talk about honesty, sometimes I wonder if people actually value the truth. We seem to like honesty and truth in theory, but in many cases other things seem more important.

For example, Joy Behar recently received a lot of criticism for stating (during a discussion of the Anthony trial on The View) that she would lie to protect her daughter. The problem is, I think a lot of people would lie to protect someone they love. I'm not a parent, but I think this is a natural parental instinct.

At the same time, we're also conditioned to question everything. Thus, even when someone is telling the truth, we may not be inclined to believe them. I can see why this Catch-22 leads people to stretch the truth or even to lie if it helps their case.

What we need to remember, however, is that lying tends to ultimately backfire. Any number of politicians can tell you that. We shouldn't lie simply because it's easy to get away with it. We shouldn't stay silent when the truth would open up lines of communication (after all, a lie of omission is still a lie). We should applaud those who do wrong and admit it up front. And we should definitely be honest with ourselves and our loved ones.

(Also, the reason I've been MIA is due to studying for the bar exam. I've been blogging about that adventure here).