I need to make at least a 75-word comment on my classmate’s post Lying to look good. Kimberly In my professional careers that I have held, lying is sadly something that happens far too often. Between the railroad and the military, the two most common re

I need to make at least a 75-word comment on my classmate’s post

Lying to look good.

Kimberly

In my professional careers that I have held, lying is sadly something that happens far too often. Between the railroad and the military, the two most common reasons for lying were used to make someone look good or to get themselves out of trouble. I'm sure there were honorable reasons in there as well, but usually that isn't the case. The the most recent example I have is of a superior lying to make himself look better. We were holding a class at my home terminal and the superintendent came in to speak with us. He was speaking of his history with the company and mentioned that he had 8 years of conductor service under his belt. While I might be one of the newer people at this company, there are many people that have been working at this same yard for a decade and usually more. Some of these people were in the room with us that day and knew that the superintendent had lied, but chose to remain silent on the issue to maintain the peace within the class.

This example seems to relate to one of the criticisms of utilitarian lying. "Lies frequently assume "lives of their own" and result in consequences that people do not intend or fail to predict." (Mazur, T.C., 1993). The superintendent's lie probably started as a small stretch of the truth so he could gain some notoriety and respect in his field, but grew out of hand to the point where he might actually believe it himself and will tell anyone this lie. Even those who know far better.