Lies damage the fabric of society from "summary" of Lying by Sam Harris
The idea that lies damage the fabric of society may seem self-evident to most people. After all, we know from personal experience how lies can erode trust and create a sense of unease in our relationships. But the consequences of lying go far beyond individual interactions. When we live in a society where lying is pervasive, where dishonesty is the norm rather than the exception, the very foundations of that society are undermined. Consider a society where politicians lie as a matter of course, where corporations deceive their customers, where friends and family members are constantly misleading one another. In such a society, it becomes almost impossible to know who to trust, who to believe, who to rely on. The social bonds that hold us together begin to fray, and eventually, they may snap altogether. But the damage of lying goes even deeper than this. When we lie, we not only deceive others, but we also deceive ourselves. We create a false reality, a distorted version of the truth that we come to believe in. And when this happens on a societal level, when lies become so pervasive that they are accepted as truth, the very nature of reality itself is called into question. We lose our grip on what is real and what is not, on what can be trusted and what cannot. In this way, lies undermine the very foundation of our shared reality. They erode the trust that is necessary for a society to function, and they create a climate of suspicion and fear. When lies become the currency of public discourse, when truth is treated as a disposable commodity, the result is a world where nothing is certain, where everything is up for grabs. So the next time you are tempted to tell a lie, to deceive someone for your own gain, remember that you are not just harming that person. You are also contributing to the erosion of the very fabric of society itself. And in the end, we all pay the price for that.
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