The World Is Full Of Lies

The World Is Full Of Lies

The world is full of lies. In fact, we experience them on an everyday basis. In every film we watch we are fooled into believing that the pictures on the screen are moving, but in actuallity they are just still shots placed together at 24 frames per second. Television and the media (news) seem to be the biggest carries of the lying virus. ABC was one of the unlucky few to have been caught. Their name was dragged through the mudd along with Food Lion, in a case which poses many ethical questions. Because of commercial advertisements, television news has been forced to resort to lie tactics in order create stories that shock viewers into watching. News has become nothing more than factual ENTERTAINMENT. For example, ABC’s news program “Primetime Live” did a feature story on the South Carolina based Food Lion, which stated that the grocery chain was selling tainted meat, cheese that had been nawed upon by rats, produce which was taken from the dumpster, and fish which had been bleached in order to return the natural white color; however, ABC used trickery in order to obtain the package. The lead was originally developed from a friend of segment producer Lynne Dale. The friend was the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers Union) spokesman Neal Lattimore. The information was supplied through a group who served as a “middle man.” ABC went to a Food Lion armed with hidden cameras in order to obtain some initial evidence. Second, ABC sent three employees Lynne Dale, Susan Barnett, and an Photographer to apply for jobs using forged references, supplied by UFCW. Here is the err with ABC. Their use of false information directly infringes upon a companies trust with employees, furthermore, many applications require a signature that bonds all information to the employee.

Their second mistake was using information supplied by a union who according to Marc Gunther and Henry Goldblatt was already at arms with Food Lion, because of their persistance to remain NON union. The question that arises, does this justify ABC to lie in order to prove someone else’s lie? Sissela Bok would suggest that such practices would be correct if in the interest of the public. To Bok lies can be justified by the cognitive awareness of truth but in order to achieve such aware ness one must seek “truthful alternatives (31). She writes: “If lies and truthful statements appear to achieve the same result or appear to be as desirable to t he person contemplating lying the lies should be ruled out. And only where a lie is a last resort can one even begin to consider whether or not it is morally justified. (31).” She also infers that lying in regards to moral justification can not be exclusive. Such information has to be capable of being made public. We should always balance the consequences with the truth as our parents once taught us too. She describes paternal/maternal lying as justifyable if it someway helps to prevent the child from being injured. Such lies are created in order to PROTECT the innocent. Her stand becomes redundantly clear in Lying. Lies CAN be justified if the need, outweighs the consequences, but by no means however, does she agree with lying, in fact she appauls it. “I hope to have shown how often the justifications they invoke are insubstantial, and how they can disguise and fuel all other wrongs. Trust and integrity are precious resourses, easily squandered, hard to regain (248).” As aforementioned, Bok would suggest that such lying is justifiable in order to save a life; however, I find that ABC was surely more interested with ratings as opposed to public care, although their image would suggest it. Modern news is a huge publicity battle. Whomever produces the better LIFE SAVING snippit wins the advertising.