BLUE LIES MATTER, INDEED

We tell lies on a daily basis, sometimes without even realizing it, whether it’s saying we love our friend’s new bangs even though we never have and we never will, or that dinner tasted great even when the soup boasted the flavour profile of the Dead Sea.

These lies are no great crimes, but it’s when you dig yourself a little bit deeper that sticky webs of deceit begin to form. Which is why, if you’re thinking of getting yourself out of a messy situation or profiting off an untruth or two, it may be wise to first examine the variety of lies in your arsenal.

Everyone is familiar with a harmless little white lie, expressly told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. White lies operate from that lovely place of “what you don’t know can’t hurt you.” However, white lies are often a gateway to something darker.

Black lies are far more insidious, and are only beneficial to the liar. While spinning a narrative to further a black lie, even one spawned from a white lie, the liar has to work hard to conceal the truth, leading into grey waters – or as University of Toronto psychologist Kang Lee might suggest, blue waters.

In Scientific American, Lee has suggested that blue lies fall somewhere in the middle of white and black: “You can tell a blue lie against another group. For example, you can lie about your team’s cheating in a game, which is antisocial, but helps your team.” These are the lies you tell when you are looking out for your own group’s best interest – while fully aware that you are harming an opposing group. In fact, these lies are dubbed “blue” because there’s a common belief that police officers often lie to protect each other.

No matter the colour, if your lie will help make someone feel better, if it will prevent harm, if it will help you get out of a sticky social situation, or if you’re Carrie Mathison and homeland security is at risk, it would seem that yes, it is okay to lie. Think long-term benefits over short-term repercussions.

Life is far more nuanced than right and wrong; black and white. I think the best advice is to roll with what your gut says, but be smart about it – half the crime in telling a lie is telling it poorly. A good liar doesn’t forget where the truth lies.