Back off Michelle Leslie - time for honesty about lying

The proportionality principle applies to all governments across all cultures. By its very nature, punishment hurts and if you want to deliberately hurt another person you need a justification. This applies no less in Indonesia than it does in Australia.

The notion of national sovereignty cannot be used to justify draconian laws. This principle has been beaten down by the twin forces of globalisation and the human rights movement so that it is now, rightly, only a shadow of its old self. The fact that a government manages to conquer a territory does not mean that it has the right to treat as it wishes the unfortunate people who find themselves within its borders.

So rather than paying out on Leslie for lying to get out of jail, we should be commending her for her ingenuity in getting out of a tight squeeze. Desperate circumstances often force difficult choices up us. She made the right choice.

So what are the other two circumstances in which we can fib? The second exception to the general prohibition against lying is where it is necessary to achieve important social goods which cannot be secured (at all or at least not very effectively) through transparent means. Thus, covert law enforcement practices and investigative journalism are sound practices.

Finally, you get to tell the occasional white lie. They’re OK where the topic of the lie cannot be readily avoided and it is done with the principal motivation to spare a person’s feelings. Thus, when your partner asks you “Does my bum look big in this new dress?” or “Is my new haircut nice?” you get to say no and yes, respectively. This is irrespective of how many kilograms they have piled on recently or how ill-suiting the hair style actually is. But it is not desirable to make the same remark if it has not been promoted by our partner - instead compliment them on their great personality.

White lies are also permissible where they act as social lubricants, obviating the need to engage in drawn out character evaluations and explanations. Better to say you can’t make it to dinner because you’re busy rather than because you find the person revolting. Character appraisals rarely work - it only leads to hostility and defensiveness.

So what about people who claim to never lie? Either they are telling the “mother of all lies” or they should do us all a favour and drop the occasional fib.