Why should people be honest?

Question

Is being honest something you would not abandon?

Yeah, we all know that being honest is the right thing to do.
Why shouldn't we abandon it though?

Answer 1

Honestly? It depends on what you want in life. If you want surface relationships, then honesty tends to undermine them. If you want a deeper life, relationships that last, then honesty develops trust, though at times it inserts pain into the relationship.

Then again, if you consider yourself the center of the universe, honesty makes you face the mirror of truth yourself, and that can undo the best of us. Better to hide behind the masks of a mirror that says, "You are the most beautiful, most intellectual, most interesting person" then hear, "It's Snow White."

Finally, if you choose to believe there is no such thing as eternity and facing a just Judge, then I'd say honesty is probably not all its cracked up to be. But, if there is an eternal Judge, hmm, I bet honesty might just be the best policy.

Answer 2

Honesty is relative. Even for completely honest people, honesty is relative to their audience. For example, if a child is terrified of thunder, I'm likely to make up a comfortable story instead of attempting to explain the friction of postively and negatively charged molecules. Since the dawn of time, the best teachers including Socrates and Jesus have framed the truth in the form of stories the audience could understand. From a scientific basis, the stories are not completely true (as in most creation stories), but they do contain truths that teach us cultural values.

I also believe there are hard truths and easy truths. The easy truths are simple and easy to swallow. The hard truths require a lot of research and understanding. Easy truths go out and get swallowed by the majority of society. Hard truths are dwelled upon by teachers, academics, and those with intellectual curiosity.

For example:
easy truth: 9/11 occurred because militant Muslims hate America
hard truth: 9/11 occurred because of a complex chain of events that reaches back through the first Gulf War, through WWII and the creation of Israel, and back to Biblical times. Though one cannot condone their actions, the perpetrators were people who believed in their cause enough that they thought their actions would improve life for those they represented. Simply wiping them off the face of the earth does not wipe away the history that created such acts of terror. Only by understanding the history do we gain any hope of preventing further generations from suffering our horrors.

But hey, that can't fit into an 8-second news sound bite.

Answer 3

For law students, it is suggested , to understand law better, that they should try to 'visualise' a situation if such a law were absent !
Let us try that with prescription of honesty... Try to prescribe dis-honesty as an ethical code.. ! Yahoo answers would collapse, first of all (it is the hope & expectation that most people would be sincere and honest in replies/answers, that keeps the process 'rolling' !). Courts would become redundant, but for material evidence physically produced for each arguement. And then the Judge need not be honest too ! Just extend it.... communication would collapse. Yes, if only people realise, that with each dishonest act/word, they are contributing to collapse of life in a small way, they would need no external persuasion to hold on to honesty ! It is very similar to the 'money' being first created by hard work/produce by a person, and then making it available to the 'looter' or 'robber', 'thug', 'extortionist' etc...

Answer 4

In these days, everything we do is "mass media" induced. The common man has surrendered his individuality and will go be what the others asy or said."That religion is bad' "This country is oppressive" "Those people are unreliable....". The list goes on. With the result all of us are constantly wearing a mask, hiding our true selves.We suppress our own true feelings .
We fear for our lives if we are honest and express ourselves.

Honesty has NOT been abandoned yet. But, it is not allowed to come to the fore.The sooner we reverse the trend the better for the mankind.

Answer 5

If people were not generally honest, the level of insecurity in the society will go up to such an extent that the society can not just sustain and would completely crumble. We formed a society to provide cover for the overall insecurity we faced individually - being reasonably honest with each other is a prerequisite for the cover needed against gross insecurity.

Answer 6

I would not abandon honesty. When you are honest, you are telling the other person what you stand for, like what you respect, what you believe in, what you like, etc. and pretty much you are telling them who you are. If they like it, then cool. If they don't, too bad. If you do this, you are on your way to achieving awesome relationships.

Answer 7

The majority have abandoned honesty. Where have you been?I try hard to be honest and fair. Politicians have made it easier for others to be dishonest. they are the ultimate role models for dishonesty!

Answer 8

Because because being honest and acting honest as saying the truth wouldnt harm or hurt others.. That is why people would prefer someone honest at least they know he/she says the truth and wont cause them sufferings ...

Answer 9

We all know what our conscious says is right. We are taught early on it is right. We know in our hearts the way it feels it is right. That's because the almighty powerful creator is inside our soul and has given us that ability from birth. The knowledge of truth within to know right from wrong.

Answer 10

There's a well-known proverb, "Honesty is the best policy" that implies when we put the policy into practice, everything we do should be all right, it'd be one of our important characters. Moreover, it can save us from disgrace.