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Lies in the interest of liars may also extend to those with whom the liars feel closely bound -- the individual to his tribe, sect, community or nation, the employee to his employers, the professional to his peers, the advertiser or lawyer to his client. If collective success or profit is a paramount goal, a lie told to achieve it may seem a tempting alternative.
3. Lies to cause harm, or "Trust me on this one." The role model here is Shakespeare's Iago, insidiously, malevolently and falsely poisoning Othello's mind against his faithful wife Desdemona. These are the lies people fear and resent the most, statements that will not only deceive them but also trick them into foolish or ruinous courses of behavior. Curiously, though, lying to hurt people just for the hell or the fun of it -- the Iago syndrome -- is probably quite rare. Though Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote influentially about Iago's "motiveless malignity," the play itself does not really support this judgment. Iago has a motive, all right: he believes Othello has unfairly passed him over for a promotion, and he wants revenge. Some perceived advantage prompts most lies. If there is no benefit in telling a lie, most people won't bother to make one up.
Lies flourish in social uncertainty, when people no longer understand, or agree on, the rules governing their behavior toward one another. During such periods, skepticism also increases; there will be a perception that more people are lying, whether or not they actually are. That seems to be what is happening now.
The weakening of the major parties and the rise of television have made politics an infinitely more difficult -- and morally tenuous -- endeavor. It is no longer sufficient for candidates to say they are Democrats or Republicans, explain their views on the issues and let the voters decide. Campaigns now consist of offending as few people as possible, so the possibilities for mischief and misunderstandings are endless.
Politicians know they are widely perceived as liars. They also remember what happened to presidential nominee Walter Mondale after he told the 1984 Democratic National Convention that he would, if elected, raise taxes. Voters say they want the truth, and then they get angry when they hear it.
Furthermore, the prolonged recession has created endemic anxieties. If survival seems to hang on getting an edge, cutting a corner, telling a lie, then many otherwise moral people will choose to survive. The economy will, of course, improve; but the hangover from the recession may stick around: the impression that doing business, earning a living, is a con game, with rewards going to the clever and the unscrupulous.
Finally, a phenomenon has become so pervasive that it almost goes unnoticed. Everyone seems to have got incredibly nosy. The press is part of this problem, particularly the aggressive new tabloid and infotainment TV shows. But reporters would not yell intrusive questions if they knew their readers or viewers did not care about the answers.