Thursday, July 22, 2010
Society Without Lies?
I just finished watching The Invention of Lying, this movie is based on a society that can not lie and lying is literally not in their vocabulary. Everyone trusted eachother and believed everything they read and heard, because that is how their world was. In the movie there was an advertisement for Coke, the spokesperson said, "Hello, I work for Coke and I want you to buy more Coke even though it is brown sugar water. It is full of calories and will most likely cause obesity, it is bad for you and you should not drink it. But I want you to buy Coke, so buy it." Imagine this as our advertisements! How would now's society be, if lying weren't invented? Lying seems to be the cause for false advertising, which is what Postman states continuously in Amusing Ourselves to Death, the movie gave me a bit of a different persepective. Also, the so called movies they have in this "truthtelling" society is just a person speaking about the past centuries, and they have awards for these movies. What do you think of living in this type of society?
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If we lived in a society like that, our intentions and priorities would be much different. These days, it's all about doing whatever it takes to make money (just like in your other post about Lady Gaga and that tea company.) We would probably care more for the poor and starving, and less about the celebrities getting surgery to look younger. BUT, what about the government lying to us? Would everything be chaotic because we knew more about all the war threats? Would people want to know EVERYTHING? I don't know if that makes sense, but that's my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence- I just watched that movie the other day! You each raise interesting questions. I agree that our perceptions of the world around us would be altered drastically. Our priorities- right down to our daily concerns- would receive sever makeovers. But I believe that knowing the truth right from the get-go can only bring positive effects. Brittany mentioned her concern that things might become chaotic due to the world knowing about war threats. Yet this, too, could bring positive results: with knowledge of war threats, the U.S. would be enabled to tighten security. Furthermore, is war not often based on false testimony and twisted historical facts? With the truth laid out on the table, we could actually avoid many a war, and live in a much more peaceful society. What negative effects could the truth bring?
ReplyDeleteWell both Brittany and Quiana make a good point, however, i agree more with Brittany. I understand how it would seem to Quiana that truths would bring only positive, but without lies, the world would not be quite as you might have pictured it. If no one lied, no one would get along very well. Everyone would know exactly what the other thought of them, knowing enemies right away. Just because someone is telling the truth, doesn’t mean they get along. Telling the truth does not mean everyone will get along. If we knew of war threats everyone would be stressed and scared. For some things it is better to live in ignorant bliss. Peace is also based on false testimony and twisted historical facts. For example, there was a report about how Russia nearly bombed us while we knew nothing and was in completely ignorant bliss. So I agree with Brittany, I don’t think people would want to know everything.
ReplyDeleteIf lying was not invented i do not think that we as a society would not be able to survive. Many of countless things have been dependent on someone lying to the face of others. I do agree that lying is a devious tool and that one should never use it but it is still necessary for us to function properly. For example lets say someone was to ask another if they had done well in a performance the previous night. In truth they didn't done they best they could but the person would say "Of course you did great!". Imagine that the Performer had gone on to be a famous actor or something and if the other person and told the truth and said she was bad then she wouldn't have followed her dream and become a famous actor. From that I believe that living in a society such as that would not be worth living in.
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