I am a liar, and surrounded by many liars, too. I participate in discussion groups that require heavy reading, but sometimes, I’m not fully prepared for them, either because I prioritize writing essays for other classes or procrastinate by watching TV or surfing the Internet. Pretending to have read thoroughly, I once succeeded in making a comment that stimulated an interesting discussion. Apparently, Rousseau is also guilty in this respect. “Having to sustain discussion,” he wrote, “the slowness of my ideas and the dryness of my conversation forced me to have recourse to fictions in order to say something.” Seeing as Rousseau still exists on our bookshelves, I guess I shouldn’t feel terrible for what I did.
I also know of seniors who, as a result of procrastination, have resorted to making up facts for their theses. An acquaintance of mine who is now a lucrative investment banker even admitted to me once that he lied about his stellar GPA and extracurricular activities on his resume to survive this depressing job market.
Let’s face it. Despite the fact that most of us aspire to be moral people, it’s difficult putting moral behavior into practice, especially in college. When our aim is to get good grades in an Ivy League school and find jobs at a time when nearly 10 percent of this country is unemployed, Machiavelli ends up looking like your best friend. He would tell you over a bottle of beer, “Don’t worry. Those who have done great things have little regard for good faith.”
“I’m just playing in a game,” the deceitful banker said, justifying the lies on the resume. “Everyone does it.”
Last week, in the CU Players’ production of Sartre’s play “Dirty Hands,” a political leader named Hoederer claimed, “I’ll lie when I must ... I wasn’t the one who invented lying. It grew out of a society divided into classes, and each one of us has inherited it from birth.” Surely, children lie to cover up mischievous acts, and countless games like poker were invented to practice and perfect this very art. Lying, from an individual’s point of view, is sometimes a necessary tool for survival, from being yelled at by parents to being killed on the streets. But lying, from a collective viewpoint, is so ubiquitous that there’s no point attempting to enforce a completely honest society.
That makes me wonder why so many students in college get away with lying so often. I remember a professor telling my first-year seminar, “Trust me, I was a college student once and I have been teaching for a very long time, so I can immediately smell bullshit.” Now, when I look back to this seminar and the 15-page paper I had to write on why governments have the right to lie, I’m not sure I can say with confidence that I knew what I was talking about. (To this day I find the claim extremely difficult to argue.) The professor gave me a B+ for the content, and A for my writing.
Like a true Sophist, I succeeded in presenting my argument with convincing rhetoric, but since I do want my government to be honest with me, I have disappointed Socrates in neglecting my love for truth and wisdom.
“When my love swears that she is made of truth,” Shakespeare wrote, “I do believe her, though I know she lies.” Similarly, did my professor detect the insincerity of my paper? Are companies overlooking the fact that people lie on their resumes, and valuing their presentation during interviews more? Are we all simply being tested on how well we can put on our poker face?
What are people studying in college for, anyway? Some want to be researchers, which means they have to be able to lie when giving placebos or conducting certain experiments with ignorant participants. Doctors, too, have to lie in difficult circumstances. And don’t get me started on the lawyers or journalists. Whether it be a small white lie or a hoax that sells, all the respectable occupations for which we prepare ourselves require skillful mendacity.
Sissela Bok, philosopher and author of “Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life,” says that colleges “need to consider how moral choice can best be studied and what standards can be expected, as well as upheld.” Now that we’ve established the fact that most college students lie in order to pass a course or get a job after graduation, perhaps Columbia needs to create an environment that not only acknowledges this phenomenon but also allows students to discuss this ethical dilemma without having to take it for granted, or justify it with profitable ends.
But for all you know, this entire column might be another big fat lie.
Yurina Ko is a Barnard College junior majoring in philosophy. She is a senior editor of the Columbia Political Review. 2+2=5 runs alternate Mondays.
opinion@columbiaspectator.com
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