Different shades of lies

A couple of years back in Sydney, I use to watch a particular tele-series. It was more of a daily soap, but definitely nothing compared to the exaggerated versions we get to watch - thanks to Ms. Ektaa Kapoor. Anyway, in one of the episodes, the (invisible) narrator of the story chats a little bit on the topic of lies. They show each of the leading actors in different frames and the narrator explains what category of lies the actor falls under. This episode has been my favorite till this date. The words somehow managed to engrave themselves in my head. And today, it’s become a habit - whenever I hear about someone telling a lie, I try to place under its respective category.

Lies can be considered a compulsive habit of all humans, something that flows out naturally (knowingly or un-knowingly). If you don’t lie, then you are definitely not human; maybe someone from a different galaxy. We all have been there and done it, (and) there is no lying about this fact. More than lying itself, I guess it’s the reason behind it that matters the most. The reason or motive is what helps us decide what category we should place it under.

According to the narrator of the show, broadly there are three main categories of lies.

First - White Lies
White lies in simple words can be termed as “Good Lies”. Lies we say to help someone else - social service lies. It could be lying to your boss/teacher/parents in order to save a friend/sibling’s butt. Lies told in an attempt to help others at a sacrifice of your own self. For example, in most Bollywood movies you will see how the hero lies to the heroine, his family, etc. about his true identity that he is a secret service agent who is doing his duty of nabbing the bad guys.
Then you also have civil lies, where you praise/support others just because you don’t want to hurt their feelings. This type lie is very common in our desi-blogosphere. Just because one blogger comments on our particular post or blog, at times we feel obligated to do the same towards them, even if we don’t mean it. However the best example of a white lie has to be Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy (sorry if I have burst the bubble for some, they actually do not exist).
Overall, white lies are those where our fake words don’t hurt anyone but end up benifetting some.

Second - Black Lies
As the name suggests, “Black Lies” are the darkest of all lies, in simple words “Bad Lies”. These lies are the most dangerous type and are designed to protect or benefit the liar. Here the individual does not consider the “actual” effect of his/her words and basically doesn’t give a damn about others as long as they are to gain or achieve their ulterior motive. They are most common among are politicians, terrorist groups, rapists, murderers, etc. For example, Netaji Subhas Chadra Bose’s death in a plane crash in 1945 is a fact or was fabricated by the then Congress government or Manu Sharma, the prime accused in Jessica Lal’s murder case.
Then there are lies which one commits with the intention of damaging someone else’s reputation or image in the society, out of plain jealousy or grudge. Example - Preeti Jain’s rape allegations against Bollywood director, Madhur Bhandarkar.

Lastly - Various Shades of Grey Lies
“Grey Lies” is a bit of a complicated category. The lies vary according to the “intensity” of the reason behind the lie and its final effect. They are basically your everyday lies. For example, lying to your professor for not completing your assignment or fibbing to your boss that you missed the bus when the actual reason for being late to work was because you over-slept. The other good example for this category would be (some) SIF folks. These guys take facts and add their own mirch-masala to it and rub our blog posts with it just so they look correct and can enjoy the ‘feel-good’ factor. The same could be said about (some) feminist groups as well.
They are mostly said to save one’s own ass but without offending or gravely hurting some-one else.

The above is just a gist of the various categories of “lies”, who knows what else we can find if we dig more into this nature of man-kind. I know it would be morally right to say that we should all just stop lying, in the first place. But then wouldn’t it just take away the extra-spice from the society and what about the consequences, if we don’t practise the ‘white lies’?

• Culture, India, New Age Thinking
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