When might it be bad to be honest?
by 
game masta
ANSWERS: 7
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When someone's very ugly cat dies and you say "good riddance". (it's happened to me)
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When your wife/girlfriend is pregnant and she asks, "Do I look fat?"
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A classic problem that illustrates this is "do you tell the Gestapo at your door that you're hiding Jews in the attic?" If you say "yes", because you believe that telling the truth is an absolute requirement at all times, you are sentencing the refugees to death. If you say "no", you're admitting that telling the truth isn't an absolute requirement at all times. Solving these kinds of problems well falls in the domain of what is known as "moral development"... as a person's understanding of morality develops and becomes more mature, the solutions become increasingly subtle and more involved. Simply having a set of rules to follow blindly is "adolescent" morality -- i.e. it's the kind of morality that children typically have when entering their teen years. An adult is generally expected to have a more sophisticated understanding of morality which can help them resolve difficult or ambiguous situations appropriately.
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If some thieves are chasing an innocent.If he hides in your house you should not be honest.
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I think it's okay to be less than honest when trying to spare the feelings of another person. For example, when you receive a gift you know you're never going to use, there's little benefit in telling the gift giver. Simply accepting the gift graciously spares their hurt and embarrassment.
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While it is never bad to be honest, Stableboy makes a very valid point. In some cases giving the whole truth or avoiding the truth may be better than telling all the facts. Tactfulness is a very under rated skill that most of us never learn to use; but, it would be extremely useful in an instance such as this.
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When telling the truth does more harm than good. This is often the case with lies of omission. This happens a lot with kids. They always want to know whose picture is prettier, or who did a better cartwheel. Sometimes it's just better to point out the positives of each, omitting negativity at the expense of total honesty.
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