Is honesty the poison or the cure?

With so many problems in the world with common sense, apathy, religon, war, social unrest, conspiracies, health issues, financial, violence, crime, sex ect... Is honesty the poison or the cure?


Is honesty actually needed in our society anymore?
Does anyone know what the real reward for honesty is or what it it used for?
Has honesty ever failed you or backfired on you?
Does anyone observe, practice or truly believe in honesty?
Can we prove anyone is honest or dishonest?
Is not being "open" honest?
Do you contribute to the downfall of society with your dishonesty?

Last question:
Is honesty what we all are after or is it what we truly fear?

The definition of honesty;

Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft. "Honesty is the best policy." -- William Shakespeare, Mark Twain and Steve Landesberg. all said this saying

From my own experience, honest truth can sometimes seem like poison...but you cannot not grow or learn without true acceptance of truth, even if you like to hide from it.

Are you referring to somebody saying what they feel is honest (which, to me, is opinion), or the real truth about what is going on in our world, or being honest when you know you can get away with something but you come clean anyway because it is the right thing to do?

As an example, I went to the store today and bought a few items. After I walked away, I noticed that the cashier didn't charge me for the most expensive item, so I went back and insisted she charge me for it. She was flabbergasted and couldn't believe I came back in to make it right. I told her that I could not, in good conscience, take or use something that I didn't pay for.

Now, if I have a friend who bought a new outfit, and I think it makes her look fat and tell her so, is that being truly "honest"? To me, that is opinion (and also, mean and unnecessary).

The real honesty I want is from our government, in which they state what they are doing and why they are doing it, and how much money it really costs....Then be honest about whether or not it is legal. That would be the real cure.

Honesty will destroy your life, honesty will keep you from financial advancement, honesty will break your heart, honesty will make people turn on you, honesty will make people say your crazy, honesty will cause people to NOT trust you, honesty is for suckers like me, once you become an honest person and after a period of time you will not be able to stop being honest and after forty years you will look back on your honest life with regret because you will watch every single dishonest person you know have all of the good things in life while you have nothing.

reply to post by Sinny

Yes that is something I forgot to mention.
"You can't hide from it"

As an example, I went to the store today and bought a few items. After I walked away, I noticed that the cashier didn't charge me for the most expensive item, so I went back and insisted she charge me for it. She was flabbergasted and couldn't believe I came back in to make it right. I told her that I could not, in good conscience, take or use something that I didn't pay for.

Ok so conscience came into play, why?
Is this penance or just stipens? Did you recieve anything for your deeds or expect to? Or was it just a knee jerk pre-programed society what to do action? Or was it a natural instinc? This is where i want to go with this.


Edit was it nessicary to be honest? You stipulated the question. See honesty has so many questions really then what is honestly really if it is questionable?

reply to post by DonVoigt


So let me ask you the question.


Did Honesty pay-off for you?

Ok so we have a few examples of honesty so far. Was it necessary to be honest? Again what did we acheive by being honest?
Ahh! you're gonna say honesty builds integregty. Now we are starting to build the blocks of society and it's simple rules. Would you all agree?

reply to post by proob4


No, I'm sorry for the one word answer

You perhaps need to define what is your perception of honesty OP. Truth can be highly personal, or it can be an objective assessment. FissionSurplus tried to point this out to you, but you did not hear.

Telling objective truth can get you killed, but honest people must stand for it, it is an ingrained value. I will argue that it is independent of society norms and has more to do with character. I vote nature over nurture.

I do think Honesty is a cure and not a poison, but that is a personal bias.

reply to post by DonVoigt

Honesty will destroy your life, honesty will keep you from financial advancement, honesty will break your heart, honesty will make people turn on you, honesty will make people say your crazy, honesty will cause people to NOT trust you, honesty is for suckers like me, once you become an honest person and after a period of time you will not be able to stop being honest and after forty years you will look back on your honest life with regret because you will watch every single dishonest person you know have all of the good things in life while you have nothing.

I find what you have said to be sad, but very true. I know what you mean, but I also know that you are who you are, and to be any other way, would be dishonest. Take heart my friend, you are not alone and I for one applaud you.

Originally posted by Iamschist
it is an ingrained value.

KInda sorta what I am getting at. Is this a value we hold so to speak? Is "Honesty" just a "ingrained" tool or is it natural by means of instinc? Or is it poisoning societies instinc using part's of honesty or dishonesty?

Originally posted by Iamschist
You perhaps need to define what is your perception of honesty OP.

Again thats what this thread is about. What truly is the perception of honesty?(honestly)
The defintion of Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. So back to question #3 in my OP. So how can you "perceive" honesty when it can or most likely will "Backfire"?

reply to post by proob4

So back to question #3 in my OP. So how can you "perceive" honesty when it can or most likely will "Backfire"?

I am confused by your term perceive:

per·ceive [per-seev] Show IPA verb (used with object), -ceived, -ceiv·ing. 1. to become aware of, know, or identify by means of the senses: I perceived an object looming through the mist. 2. to recognize, discern, envision, or understand: I perceive a note of sarcasm in your voice. This is a nice idea but I perceive difficulties in putting it into practice.

dictionary.reference.com...

Picking understand as your meaning, I must first of all be true to myself. If I cannot do that, then backlash is the least of my worries.

reply to post by proob4


I guess it is because I believe in Karma. It is only necessary for me and my own delusions of "right" and "wrong". I would rather do what I consider to be the "right thing", because the "wrong thing" (in this case, not paying for the most expensive item) would make me feel bad, guilty, and uncomfortable.

These are my morals, my code of ethics. If bankers had the same morals, we wouldn't be in the huge financial mess that we're in currently.