On Lying

PR practitioners are thought to be liars.  They cover up sins of executives and celebrities and the malpractice of a business.  That the majority of practitioners are honest confounds the media particularly.  Now comes a study of lying that demonstrates why it is dangerous and why it is better to tell the truth, no matter how difficult it is.  The research determined that those who tell small lies sooner or later graduate to big ones because their brains adapt to untruths.  Aggregation of small lies de-sensitizes the brain.  Falsehoods become a normal way of living and operating.  Soon enough one barely notices he is lying, and he can still say he stands for truth.  This, however, puts a person in a compromised position.  Eventually, a lie will be discovered and the individual put on the spot.  The tendency then is to tell an even bigger lie to get out of trouble.  And, so it goes.  This is why PR practitioners call for transparency from the beginning.  Telling the truth destroys the need to build a pyramid of prevarication and to defend the indefensible.