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Module 6
Lying has always been considered wrong, even others considering it evil. Having the truth is always beneficial in order to figure out what happens next. Telling the truth is appropriate for both the listener and the teller. When the listener knows the truth, it feels good and can work with it as long as it is the truth. On the other hand, the teller feels relieved off a burden especially if it was a wrong done to somebody, and guilt is eliminated. More so, this makes it is easy to forgive as long as the truth is known. However, some things are better kept a secret when the truth is too detrimental to bear, and could cause damage to people (James and Merickel, 2010). In such situations, many people choose to lie in order to save the day. Many people engage in white lies in order to refrain from hurting people, and majority to keep their relationship going through lies when they know the truth would end a relationship. Governments are no exception when t comes to lies. When they know the truth would damage a nation and risk its security, white lies come in handy either to buy time for action or to stop panicking in people. However, white lies are only acceptable when they are supposed to help the other person despite hurting the person telling the lie or having benefits for both, but telling lies to benefits from others or for self-interests that hurt them does not qualify as a white lie.
The objective of having a government is to protect its citizens from any kind of attack. The government is supposed to ensure there is security within the country, and that citizens do not live under fear. However, the government is also supposed to ensure that in case there is any form of danger about to occur, the people should be warned and told of measures to prevent the danger. In addition, the government is supposed to keep unity among all the citizens. Therefore, when anything threatens to disrupt the unity within the country, it is the work of the government to ensure this does not happen. How a government deals with such matters is what matters a lot to the people, and when they are aware of certain problems, they demand to know what is happening. In many cases, the government does deny some allegations despite being true to protect the people since the truth may cause loss of trust with the government. When the government knows that some information would cause problems, a white lie would be applicable for the benefit of the people. As long as it is not for self-interests of the government officials, white lies would be acceptable in governments. However, when the lie will cost the people lives and resources which could otherwise be directed for a better course, the lie is not acceptable. From past lies made by governments in order to justify their actions of war, it is obviously not right for governments to keep some information or make allegations that are not true to its citizens.
In order to go to war, the bush administration is now known to have coined lies of the existence of biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq. None of them was ever found, and the government claimed failure of intelligence to justify the war, which they had no reason to. Many people died, many resources were used in the war, and many families to this day never know what their young men went to fight for. This was a war of conquest, rather than a war for eliminating any threat posed by Iraq. If the government had told the truth, none of the citizens of America could have agreed to this fact.
The first lie to gain public support came from Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair in his ‘Doggy Dossier’, which he used to gain support for the war. Despite the dossier having reasons that would send a country to war, it was dropped since much of it was drawn from a 12-year-old thesis paper of a student (Burke N.D). This made irrelevant and could not be applicable. The next claim was the mobile ‘biological weapons laboratory’ with photos being shown. However, there was no proof of any biological weapon in the trucks as claimed. It was found that they were just hydrogen generating generators for weather balloons. This was just another strategy to keep fighting the war (Burke N.D).
There were many claims by the government that Iraq was purchasing aluminum tubes specially designed for use as uranium centrifuges, (Burke N.D). This was later proven as missile tubes that were legal. During the invasion, there were no centrifuges of such kind were found, and this was just meant for the public eye. There were also claims of rocket and launchers in Iraq, which were never found. More and more claims come in concerning weapons in Iraq, such as VX gas, anthrax, long-range ‘drones’, chemical and biological agent for weapons, among others that were never found.
In addition, President Bush went ahead to use fake documents to prove that Iraq was purchasing uranium oxide from Niger. This could not have been true since Iraq had uranium deposits within their borders. All of the allegations made concerning Iraq having weapons of mass destruction were never proven. It is therefore, true that all the proof that the government used such as the fake papers were intentionally created to lie to the people to gain justification for the war. The main aim of the war was to remove Saddam from power. The government knew they had no support for the military action in Iraq, and instead resulted to lies for support. It is obvious government should not keep hidden information form its people (Burke N.D).
In addition to Iraq war, other wars in the past have been a result of lies from governments. The world war was conceived this way, when Adolph Hitler lied to Germans that Poland had attacked them and went ahead with staging of fake attacks in order to gain support. Trough this lie, he gained support, and went ahead to invade Poland, leading to the Second World War (Burke N.D). During the Second World War, in order to find a reason to fight Germany, United States president used Japan as the way to get to Germany. The American government led by Roosevelt at the time provoked Japan to attack them. Another example is President McKinley lying to the Americans concerning the ‘USS Maine’ that had sunk due to an explosion in the coal bin. He said it was sunk by Spanish mine, leading to a war which was never provoked (Burke N.D).
In these wars, many people have died and many injured. Many families even today still mourn the death of their loved ones. Drawing from the history of such lies, government should not make lies to the public concerning issues that affect them. It is clearly that government should govern with the consent of those being governed (Burke N.D). Without their consent, any mistake made at the top by few individuals will affect the whole nations, and even coming generations. Through such lies enmity between countries arise, and could be extended for generations when the truth finally comes out. The claim of fighting terrorism has been on for almost a decade, and countries under war continue to suffer, while those fighting the wars continue to die. It is evident that most of the time the wars are for conquest reasons from the few at the top. Considering they cannot engage in war without the support of the people, lies are sought to gather support needed.
Government lies should be discouraged since they have a significant impact to a country. White lies within individual level that are meant to make people feel better may not be controlled since they are at a personal level. However, personal lies have no harm to others, and only affect the parties involved, and rarely do such incidents such as death occur due to small white lies. On the other hand, government is there for its people, to rule with transparency and integrity. Decisions concerning any national matter should be made with the consent of the people, who must have the right information to make a decision. They should not be lied to in order to agree to a decision that otherwise they would not agree. In addition, they are the people affected by the decisions; hence, they have the right to know the truth especially if it concerns their security.
Work cited
Burke, Edmund. The Lie of the Century. whatreallyhappened.com, n.d. Web. February 15, 2012.
James, Missy and Merickel Alan P. Reading Literature and Writing Argument. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
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