Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o are merely the fruit of our cultural tree.
While their lies are light years apart in terms of intent in some degree, they are close neighbors in another – both lied in order to protect themselves.
The shocking thing is not their lies, but our feigned outrage at their lack of honesty.
Should we really expect truthfulness from individuals in a culture based on falsehood? At the core, yes, individual choices were made that hold them responsible. There are, however, societal influences for those choices.
Our culture undermines honesty in every way imaginable. Underhanded behavior is glorified. Unfaithful spouses are glamorized. Untouched photos are gone.
In our country, politicians are not elected based on their deeply held positions or their ability to accomplish great things. We choose men who are most able to deceptively convince the most people that they agree with them. Lying is not frowned upon. Quite the contrary; it is expected.
Every photo published is almost expected to be a lie of some sort. Photoshop and filters make each picture seem as if the subject were perfect. Magazines portray a false life as the object of desire. Never mind that it is literally unattainable. Chasing the lie will keep you buying more things.
In sports, the phrase is often repeated: "It's not cheating unless you get caught." If that is the case, Armstrong never cheated. He never got caught while he was competing. We told him performance enhancing drugs were perfectly fine, as long as he let us believe our naive fantasy about "LiveStrong."
Te'o was embarrassed about being conned in such an heart-wrenching manner, so instead of coming clean, he perpetuated the very fraud that was committed against him. It was more important to him to remain respectable in the eyes of others than to be honest. Read that again. Respectability was the opposite of honesty. That is our culture.
In a world where "image is everything," integrity is nothing.
In his book, The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis included an essay entitled "Men Without Chests." In it, Lewis depicts the problem with our culture. We ask for a virtue while cultivating the opposing vice.
Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o may indeed be men with chests, but they are our men without chests. That doesn't make what they did excusable. It makes what each of us do each day to affirm honesty so very important.
While their lies are light years apart in terms of intent in some degree, they are close neighbors in another – both lied in order to protect themselves.
The shocking thing is not their lies, but our feigned outrage at their lack of honesty.
Should we really expect truthfulness from individuals in a culture based on falsehood? At the core, yes, individual choices were made that hold them responsible. There are, however, societal influences for those choices.
Our culture undermines honesty in every way imaginable. Underhanded behavior is glorified. Unfaithful spouses are glamorized. Untouched photos are gone.
In our country, politicians are not elected based on their deeply held positions or their ability to accomplish great things. We choose men who are most able to deceptively convince the most people that they agree with them. Lying is not frowned upon. Quite the contrary; it is expected.
Every photo published is almost expected to be a lie of some sort. Photoshop and filters make each picture seem as if the subject were perfect. Magazines portray a false life as the object of desire. Never mind that it is literally unattainable. Chasing the lie will keep you buying more things.
In sports, the phrase is often repeated: "It's not cheating unless you get caught." If that is the case, Armstrong never cheated. He never got caught while he was competing. We told him performance enhancing drugs were perfectly fine, as long as he let us believe our naive fantasy about "LiveStrong."
Te'o was embarrassed about being conned in such an heart-wrenching manner, so instead of coming clean, he perpetuated the very fraud that was committed against him. It was more important to him to remain respectable in the eyes of others than to be honest. Read that again. Respectability was the opposite of honesty. That is our culture.
In a world where "image is everything," integrity is nothing.
In his book, The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis included an essay entitled "Men Without Chests." In it, Lewis depicts the problem with our culture. We ask for a virtue while cultivating the opposing vice.
And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.The actions of Armstrong and Te'o are the direct result of the cultural value shift. We have continually mocked honesty, yet now we express outrage that dishonesty has taken root.
Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o may indeed be men with chests, but they are our men without chests. That doesn't make what they did excusable. It makes what each of us do each day to affirm honesty so very important.
