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What is a lie but a truth that has been tweaked and customised. Nobody said this. It is my thought and I think of it every day. Brought up on a high dose of morality, ‘always speak the truth’ and ‘ a lie has a short shelf life’ were teachings ingrained in our minds by parents who wanted to bring us up the right way. But growing up years and a life richly lived has involved a lot of debriefing. Today I would say that sticking to the truth would be, least of all foolhardy and at the most hurtful.
Time and again I have lost out arguments as others resorted to lies just to shut me up. They won as I could not match my facts with the barrage of untruths designed to support arguments. Thus I discovered that lies are very convenient. They can be spoken with ease and justified with explanations like ‘if a truth hurts someone it is better to lie’. Or a lie that saves a life is better than the truth that kills someone and ‘I lied and I won’. Okay. Agreed. So we have harmless lies, lifesaving lies, lies that are spoken to prevent ugly scenes and subtle lies.
Now that’s interesting. In this era of images and brands, couple of lies can go a long way in creating a desired and desirable image. “If it doesn’t hurt anyone then what’s the harm in telling a couple of lies,” is heard often. Telling a lie to create an aura and then living up to that lie has very positive connotations to it. Nobody notices and the liar uses it as an opportunity to better herself. Wow! Lies are spoken to get out of sticky situations too. ‘It saves time and unnecessary arguments,’ is the justification for such lies.
Lies also have this compulsive trait to them, Once a person gets into the habit of speaking lies it’s difficult to shed it. Lies just slip out without much effort. And the web of lies keeps getting bigger and broader. ‘Life becomes so much easier with these convenient lies’ is the notion. Another reason why lies are not derided upon so much anymore is also because those who stick to truth have been known to suffer immeasurable pain. Dip into our mythology and we can see how Raja Harishchandara and Dharamraj Yudhishtar lost kingdoms, family and fortunes only because they would not tell a lie. Today they are mere eponyms to run down those who are sticklers for truth. 'Truth gets troubled but is never defeated'. The Mahatma told us this. There are many who live by it too. But then I have seen that theirs are not smooth lives instead their lives are dotted with travails as they wait for truth to finally prevail. So, in this competitive day and age who has the patience to wait for truth to prove a point.
Lies are also very conducive for creating an entire environment of gossip and discussions especially when they are sourced to celebrities. Now people of eminence use lies to protect themselves from hounding by media and even admirers and also to get on top of their game by putting down their rivals. That they lie through their pretty cosmeticized teeth is an accepted fact. And they need to do so to enhance that aura of mystery and intrigue that surrounds them. How boring and dangerous it would be for a politician to always speak the truth. Lies keep them in currency because of the hair splitting involved in everything that they say.
In the sphere of creativity too, lies have their own role to play. How would a story proceed if there was not an element of untruth involved in the lives of its protagonists. Cinema uses lies to thicken the plot and the climax is all about the unravelling of truth. Now one would say that in the end truth prevails. But no it doesn’t. It just leaves the path open for more untruths, more plots and more stories.
So as Fleetwood Mac’s song in their 1987 album Tango in the Night said -‘Tell me sweet little lies, Oh no, no you can't disguise, Tell me lies, Tell me sweet little lies’- let's get to lying.
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