Lying

Is lying ever a good thing, is there ever a reason to lie, or is it always a bad, immoral thing to do to someone else? This is an argument debated by philosophers for centuries and no answer was ever found. The old scenario of, if a mad man came in with a gun, he asks for someone that you know he is going to kill, is it right then to lie to someone for the sake of someone else’s life?
Some people don’t refer to this situation as ‘lying’ but refer to it as a ‘white lie’. People see a white lie as, ‘a consciously untrue statement which is not considered criminal; a falsehood rendered venial or praiseworthy by its motive.’ (O.E.D online). People look as a white lie being less than a lie, that it isn’t so immoral as it is attempting to save someone from harm, sometimes.
People lie for all sorts of reasons. Because they need to in order to save their own skin. Others lie to help others. Many people lie in order to make them selves look a better person than what they are. People lie to one another in order to try and impress others around them. This may start from an early age with children lying to their parents in order to gain some thing. Here is a website telling us how children, from various ages, lie in order to gain and that lying is apart of development for a child;

http://www.parenting-ed.org/handout3/Specific%20Concerns%20and%20Problems/lying.htm

Teenagers can lie about fights they have been in or sexual activities that they have participated in. This can then lead to more lies when a person gets older, lying to a women to lead her to bed…
It seems sad that people have to lie to impress others, if someone isn’t impressed with you for the person you are then it isn’t worth you attempting to get to know the person.
However, the lowest form of lying for me, must be when someone lies with an intent, they choose to lie to people in the hope that it may bring about the downfall of someone else. This you can see is done with politicians. However, this is not the only place that it can take place, as is the same with another types of lying. Lying with intent is shallow and immoral, in my opinion you are considered lower than scum!