Goedjen 1 Jackson Goedjen Mrs. Zinsitz English II GT - 3 22 September 2014 Lying Saints Throughout history and across the world lies have been told, whether it be a simple “white” lie, or the largest lie ever told. Some philosophers even say it’s impossible for humans not to lie. A lie is a false statement made to deliberately deceive the person, or persons to which it is told. Lies and deception take common place in today’s society; An everyday necessity in order to keep society functioning at it’s fullest potential, yet people insist the benefits of lying such as protecting yourself, the nation, or a large number of people the cannot rectify immorality of the lie itself. We as a society lie or deceive generally to protect ourselves from a perceived threat. Oddly though, all of my life, I have been told “Lying is always wrong.” or “There is a never a right time to lie.” yet everybody still seems to participate in this social voodoo. Now of course, I do too, albeit with good intentions of course. For example, when I was much younger, a salesman came to my door. Being young and naive, I answered the door without thinking too much about it. I was home alone at the time and when the salesman asked if my parents were home I said yes, but were on the phone and couldn’t talk. The man looked shocked, and hurriedly left. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I now realize what consequences telling the truth could have held. I had to lie in that moment as it was for my own safety. The salesman, 


Goedjen 2 for all I know, could have had some not so good intentions. Overall, the safety of many children and even adults are dependent on lying in similar situations. Deception is also crucial in the safety and sanity of nations as a whole. On January 24, 1961, a B-52 bomber plane carrying two nuclear war-heads crashed above Goldsboro, North Carolina. Luckily, neither of the bombs detonated, though one came extremely close to doing so (1.). The report of this incident was just recently declassified in 2014. The military did not want the general populous to know of this incident, and for good reason too. Revealing an incident such as this would cause mass hysteria throughout the town, and possibly even the country. Keeping this situation classified enabled the government to deal with the situation at hand in a safe manner and keep the population at ease. This particular incident was also during the midst of the Cold War and the U.S.S.R. hearing of this incident would be a large blow to the U.S. military’s defense and pride, as well as provide a strong basis for Russian propaganda. Likewise, lying played a key role in an event well-known to practically everybody capable of understanding what it entails, the Holocaust. Through WWII, Hitler had slowly been pulling the figurative leash on the non-Aryan race tighter and tighter. First, he put restrictions on the “imperfect” people, he then put them into ghettos, and with the final straw, he sent them away to labor and death camps. Many average everyday people risked their own lives, and deceived the Nazis rounding up Jews, Gypsies, and other types of people. They hid them in their homes, made secret compartments, or attempted to hide them in some other way. Even a Nazi SS officer, Karle Plagge attempted to save some of the Jewish people in Lithuania sent to death camps. Plagge used his position as a Nazi SS staff officer to “employ” slave labor of nearly 1,250 Jews. Giving them a purpose extended lives and even saved some of the people being sent 


Goedjen 3 to the death camps. He also managed to convince the higher-ups in the Nazi SS to allow the women and children to stay with their families as it kept productivity high. Without lying and deception, Pagge would have never been able to protect some 1,250 people from their deaths (2.). Similarly, the U.S. military had to deceive the Axis powers into believing the main attack force would be invading the Axis-controlled area at Calais, instead of Utah, Gold, Juno, Sword, and Omaha Beaches. In turn, the Axis powers focused their forces toward Calais, leaving the full frontal invasion of Normandy to be a success (3.). Overall, lying and deception is something that shouldn’t be done often in our society, but under certain circumstances, lying is the correct thing to do. Based on the circumstances, one should easily be able to tell if lying is the morally right thing to do. Without lying and deception, society wouldn’t be able to function properly, if at all.

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Goedjen 4 Works Cited 1. Lacey-Bordeaux, Emma. ”Declassified Report: Two Nuclear Bombs Nearly Detonated in North Carolina." CNN. Cable News Network, 12 June 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. 2. H.E.A.R.T. ”Karl Plagge. Survivors Stories." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. H.E.A.R.T., 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. 3. US Navy "Normandy Invasion, June 1944." Naval History and Heritage. US Navy. NA. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.