Dirtside's Journal: Is deception okay?

I've seen a lot of manifestations of the idea that it's okay to intentionally deceive someone, so long as your words are literally true. Or, to put it another way, as long as you don't actually lie, you didn't do anything wrong.

Why is this so often considered acceptable? Why is it that literal lying is not okay, but other forms of deception are just fine? Leaving out an important piece of information, or saying things that are literally true in and of themselves (but not true in context), are both ways of being deceptive without the taint of "actual" lying.

Advertising in the U.S.A. falls into this category. There are truth-in-advertising laws; an advertiser cannot make a claim that they know is false, but they can make a claim which can't be proven (such as, "Our product is the best!" which doesn't specify what it is the best at). Or, they simply imply things, especially visual ads -- drink this beer, and gorgeous women will throw themselves at you. Drive this car, and... gorgeous women will throw themselves at you. Wear this makeup, or these clothes, and men will drool over you. Buy our product, and people will think you're cool.

Of course, nobody actually says that this will happen, and the images in commercials are usually so stylized that they're not clearly claiming that A (drinking beer) causes B (beautiful women will have sex with you). They just show some guy drinking beer, and he just happens to be at a nightclub full of beautiful women who make eyes at him. But they're not actually lying, so it's okay.

Why are we okay with deception? "Nuh-uh, I didn't actually lie, what I said was true, it's not my fault if you assumed I was talking about something else!" only washes if A) your intent was not to deceive, or B) you're six years old.

Deception through omission

[bellus quies]

Unfortunately, in today's society, it is commonplace for the advertising industry to use these tactics. To use your example, beer, is not often marketed by how it is a quality product, but how it correlates to how attractive you will be to the opposite sex. "You may be drinking swill, but the chicks will dig you." TI i interesting to see how commercials are geared for their target audience, take the difference between the Oxygen network and TechTV, completely different advertising tactics. Advertisers rely on the psychological connection that people have with their product.

On a more general note, in my rule book, lying through omission is not ok. If a person knowingly alters the arrangement of truths to convince another of something that is untrue, blatant deception, this constitutes lying. It is quite a gray area. and partially delves into the area of white lies, things you say to spare another's feelings.

Though people unknowingly mislead each other all the time. I'm sure that you've had a time where you picked the story to tell or answer to a question in order to leave the other with a good impression of yourself? Would you call a new acquaintance when you're cranky or wait until everything's sunshine and roses? In both situations what you say is true, the method of conveyance just alters the message slightly. And there is something to be said for tact, again a gray area.

Ok, so I got sidetracked there, but I think that my intentions came across. Intentional deception = bad.

Deceived!

[bytesmythe]

There's one thing to keep in mind about deception: it is quite possibly the reason that humans evolved the incredible intellectual abilities we have today.

In order to become "conscious", we first had to evolve the ability to see other beings as entities who may have different knowledge than us. Using this fact enabled our early ancestors to compete against each other by withholding information (such as location of hidden food sources) or misrepresenting reality.

Of course, the primates who got better at detecting the deceptions ended up being better deceivers, and the cycle continued until we ended up with beings who were capable of readily deceiving a sizable group of people all at once, and doing a good job of keeping everything straight (such as to whom you told which lie, etc.). So, our penchant for deception is probably a good thing. How many jobs would you or I get if we told potential employers how much time we spent reading Slashdot during the day? ;)

All advertisement is deception. There is no way to quickly present every detail about a product or service, and no one in their right mind is going to tell you the bad stuff about it. We all generally know that advertisers are selling us a rosy picture of their product. (The only type of product where I think that isn't true involves "miracle cures", in which case people are so desperate for relief they'll believe anything the marketer tells them. This should be illegal. But selling beer to guys by using commercials full of hot babes is just a good marketing strategy.)

And besides, who's to say that the girls in the beer commercials are just how you'll PERCEIVE the women in the bar after you've tied one (or two, or three... or ten) on? ;)