Honesty                                             Home

Opinion 1 - Brian O'Neill
Opinion 2 - Leigh
Opinion 3 - Harv Teitelbaum
Opinion 4 - ASA-BCASP
Opinion 5 - Esther
 

Opinion 1 -    Gov. Ridge, party pooper

                    Wednesday, May 27, 1998

                    By Brian O'Neill

                    When I was starting out in journalism 20 years ago, in a
                    tobacco-textile town in that part of Virginia where people stand
                    up if a band plays "Dixie," I befriended a former merchant
                    seaman who owned the diner across from the newspaper.

                    Oscar Payne was his name, conversation his game. The man
                    could tell stories into the wee hours and never use the same
                    punch line twice.

                    Payne was a Republican before it was fashionable and was
                    honest to a fault, no kidding. When he was asked why he was
                    running for treasurer of Pittsylvania County in 1979, he
                    answered memorably: "It's a good job and I need one."

                    The people listened, voted and Payne finished fifth in a
                    five-person race.

                    Honesty is overrated. We say we want it but, when we hear it,
                    we punish it.

                    It's best not to mess with political traditions.

                    So it was with no small disgust that I read about the alleged
                    party that Gov. Ridge threw for his supporters after his wholly
                    expected primary victory a week ago. Ridge trampled upon a
                    tradition as old as the republic itself.

                    I am speaking, of course, of the open bar. Ridge, whose
                    campaign is sitting on something like $5.7 million, welcomed
                    his volunteers to a cash bar in a Harrisburg pizza parlor election
                    night.

                    To the victors belong the tab? What would our forefathers
                    think?

                    I think back to the words Gen. Ulysses S. Grant said to Gen.
                    Robert E. Lee upon accepting his surrender at Appomattox.

                    "Losers buy, Bob."

                    I think of John F. Kennedy in his words to Frank Sinatra and
                    the rest of the Rat Pack back in Las Vegas in 1959.

                    "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask me what I'm
                    havin'."

                    Pennsylvania, of all places, should be able to produce leaders
                    who know how to party. Our own Benjamin Franklin was
                    essentially America's partier-in-chief; that early-to-bed,
                    early-to-rise jazz was just his cover. Wasn't it Franklin who,
                    during a late-night grogfest in a bar near the Philadelphia
                    docks, persuaded Thomas Jefferson to slip that "pursuit of
                    happiness" right into the Declaration of Independence?

                    Well, if it wasn't, it should have been.

                    And now here comes Ridge, pulling the coaster out from under
                    this great American political perk. One has to ask where Ridge
                    expects to spend all his campaign dough. He's in a "race"
                    against Ivan Itkin, for crying out loud.

                    Hold it. Maybe that's it. Maybe the governor figures the only
                    way this is fair is if he fights with the Absolut, Rolling Rock
                    and Jack Daniels tied behind his back.

                    Still, I have to wonder what my old friend Oscar Payne would
                    think. I remember him coming to a state Republican convention
                    in Roanoke, Va., in the mid-1980s as an uncommitted delegate,
                    and asking why he remained officially uncommitted when he'd
                    already decided for whom he'd vote.

                    "Nobody buys drinks for committed delegates," Payne
                    explained.

                    I then followed him as he allowed himself to be schmoozed at
                    every last candidate's hospitality suite in the Roanoke
                    Convention Center.

                    These are the values on which a great nation was built.
                    Governor, for the sake of the commonwealth, open your
                    campaign coffer and buy your people a drink.

                    If nothing else, every round for the house in the spring could
                    mean one less annoying campaign commercial in the fall. We
                    can all drink to that.

Opinion 2 - Leigh (29 year old woman)

The truth about confession (from QueenDom.com)

          I am writing this story from the other side. My husband, who I
          thought was the most loving, trustworthy man in the world, had
          an affair on me. I was young and in love when we married. You
          know, the kind of love that could never end, that no one could
          ever come between, that gives you the butterflies in your
          tummy. After my husband and I had been married for about 6
          years, he casually brought up in conversation that he was really
          depressed.

          I sat in his lap and put my arms around him. When I questioned
          him further, he confessed to me that he had a one time fling
          several years prior. I was crushed. This wonderful man, the love
          of my life, the father of my child, did this to me? I couldn't
          speak. All that he wanted to do was ease his conscience. He
          thought that by telling me, it would make him feel better, make
          the guilt go away. I don't know what I was most appalled about,
          the affair, or his reason for telling me. It would have been much
          better had he not confessed to me. I had to share in the pain of
          his weaknesses, that hurt the most. The selfishness of his guilt.

          Why did I have to suffer...I did nothing wrong. Honesty is not
          always the best policy. Some truths are best unsaid. Now my
          dream man has a huge flaw that will never go away. All because
          he felt that he had to tell me. I had to suffer too...

Opinion 3 - Harv Teitelbaum, originally published in The Denver Post, April 29, 1999

Functional Dishonesty

Besides love, honesty may be the most taboo subject in our society, considered too trite, too “soft” to be given serious attention.  Sure, occasionally the honesty of an elected official, or someone in a position of trust, is examined in conjunction with an investigation.  And child-rearing reports may also include some homily to the virtues of honesty.  But, outside of these “safe” containers, there is a marked absence of adult discourse on the subject.  There is no dialog on its value to society or on the desirability of making honesty a foundation of any ethical system.   Worse, this silence may be validating the slow movement of society toward an acceptance of functional dishonesty.

What is “functional dishonesty”?  It is represented by words or deeds which, while perhaps accurate and true on their surface, are nonetheless designed to mislead, distract, fool or distort.  In other words, where the intention does not align with the representation, honesty is lacking, regardless of accuracy.  And while it could be argued that we are no less honest a society than we were in the past, based upon the technical “truth” of our words and deeds, the evolution and increasing sophistication of such institutions as politics, public relations, marketing and the law have undoubtedly taken functional dishonesty to new heights, or depths, of ubiquity and pervasiveness.

Advertising represents the leading edge of this trend.  We’ve all seen automobiles ads which selectively compare isolated qualities of their vehicle to those of a competitor, while scrupulously avoiding any comprehensive comparisons.  "Our truck has more cargo space than a Ferrari!"  Worse may be the attempts, by such as the insurance and air travel industries, to convince consumers that they matter as individuals, when we’d consider ourselves lucky if the cattle prods didn’t leave a mark.

Sweepstakes purveyors may be the worst of the marketers.  Most recipients are aware of the word games and other tricks employed in an attempt to create false hopes and expectations, not to mention product sales.  But it is to the gullible, yet innocent minority, and the elderly, that these effectively dishonest appeals are directed.

Cigarette industry scientists claimed for decades that the exact mechanism by which smoking caused lung cancer was never definitively witnessed or understood.  Therefore, they claimed, there was no definitive proof that smoking caused cancer.  While this was technically accurate until a few years ago, the argument was merely a “smoke screen” to preserve tobacco profits (and the jobs of the scientists) from the consequences of what they already knew to be true.  We now see the same tactic, dutifully “balanced” by the media, repeated by industrialists and their allies in their fight against the existence and effects of global warming.

Examples are limitless, from the politician promoting growth with the fallacy of “jobs and taxes”, while concealing fat developer campaign contributions, to the CEO who, hiding behind advice of counsel and the letter of the law, declares “I did nothing wrong”, to the bio-chemical company loftily citing the goal of feeding the world’s hungry, while ignoring ethical considerations and drooling over the thought of controlling the world’s food supply.

I am not advocating a blind, non-discerning honesty-is-the-best-policy for every situation.  Instead, I believe that one’s intention is the most telling component.  As an example, when a close relative lies to a dying loved one to preserve the latter’s peace of mind, a sincere intention may be present.  Compare this to the examples above.  Dishonesty is magnified if insincerity is behind the deceit.

What are the implications on the personal and interpersonal level?  Why is this important to us?  Functional dishonesty promotes an acceptance of rationalization for self-interest, and a legitimization of truth-by-technicality.  It encourages us to take actions based upon our ability to minimize after the fact, and not on a prerequisite of an ethical base.  Any and all actions become possible, limited only by the inventiveness and creativity of our justifications.  We eliminate any absoluteness and accept that all ethics are situational.  Finally, we lose a measure of our transparency and innocence.  Our essences recede within us, increasing distances and adding to the alienation and disconnection we feel from others and from our communities.

Opinion 4 - from the ASA-BCASP Codes

ADVERTISING CODE - Honesty
                  6.1
                  Advertisers should not exploit the credulity, lack
                  of knowledge or inexperience of consumers.

Opinion 5 - Esther - (posted on a collectibles bulletin board)

How many people emailed the person that has the rose 2 pint jug on ebay under new instead of vintage.
I bet if it were the other way around we all would be screaming and saying how dare this person be
dishonest, but we all just sit back and smile when the shoe is on the other foot. I know I have done it. I
always have a few moments of guilt and justify by saying think how cheap they must have bought it for
if they can sell it for that. I guess we all can be a little dishonest. I guess I will have to forgive the pres
and even a few of those dealers that have not changed or added a thing after I emailed them about their
misinformed description.

I had one dealer so mad because I informed one of his bidders that the large mixing bowl in black was
really a cassarole without a lid-oh I can not say those words on here or I will be kicked out. I guess my
first mistake was I emailed him first. I was very nice about it. The price was up to $50.00 and for a
second. I finally emailed the bidders and then I received the email from hell. I am an old lady. I
deserve to be talked to (maybe about is a different story) without 4 letter words. Don't you think.