How The Concept of Dishonesty is Present in Modern Society and Its Impacts

The Existence and Effects of Dishonesty in Modern Society

Honesty and integrity have long been stressed as important tenets of morality, and the detrimental effects of dishonesty have been explored and emphasized extensively in literature, the media, religious texts, and culture in general. Although dishonesty is, as a whole, discouraged in modern society, an examination of various facets of modern life shows that a lack of moral integrity does play a significant role in our society today. In “With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything,” William Lutz explores the world of advertising media and the dishonesty and doublespeak that results in a culture of weasel words and lies of omission. In an ABC Primetime report, the author discusses the current rise in academic cheating both in the realm of high school and higher education and how this may relate to a broader change in ethics and morals. In his article in The Telegraph, John Bingham speaks about a decline in moral integrity that has been corroborated by a recent survey and study. Combined, these three works highlight the dangerous effects that dishonesty and a lack of integrity can have on the individual as well as on society and they show specific examples of where these lapses in integrity can be identified in society today. Collectively, the works support the contention that oftentimes, a lack of moral integrity manifested through activities such as dishonest advertising and academic cheating can have adverse effects on the advancement of technology and consumer goods as well as on personal values; therefore, it is important to identify modern lapses in integrity where they exist in society in areas such as academia, advertising, and personal life and to fix them by tightening advertising laws, administering strict honor codes in high schools, colleges, and universities, and emphasizing moral integrity in the school curriculum.

In “With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything,” William Lutz describes an advertising world that manipulates consumers into buying products through the dishonest use of doublespeak. One specific example that Lutz offers to the reader is the flexible function of the word ‘help’; he states that “Now, ‘help’ only means to aid or assist, nothing more. It does not mean to conquer, stop, eliminate, end, solve, heal, cure, or anything else. But once the ad says ‘help,’ it can say just about anything after that because ‘help’ qualifies everything coming after it” (Lutz 113). Here, Lutz gives one of many instances in which advertisers use veiled truths in order to lead consumers to draw conclusions that may not necessarily be true. Lutz argues that the use of these so called ‘weasel words’ is not rare but is in fact extremely common in the world of marketing, and is now so entrenched in our society that it is virtually impossible to escape. Clearly, it can be seen that the use of dishonest advertising and doublespeak constitutes a lapse of honesty and integrity; if a corporation is able to sell a product simply because of gilded language and lies of omission on its packaging, it is unarguably being dishonest to the consumer by misrepresenting the truth. Ultimately, this dishonesty affects the personal lives of citizens as well as the advancement of technology and consumer goods. If consumers can be easily swayed simply by the phrasing of an advertisement, there is no incentive for a company to produce higher quality, competitive goods; instead, it would be simpler and less expensive to focus on placing inferior products in a more positive light. One of the most obvious examples of this phenomenon is in the cable internet industry; today’s internet companies focus largely on advertising and determining the best way to phrase the truth in their marketing campaigns and as a result, innovation in this industry, especially in the United States, has slowed down tremendously. A solution to this problem of dishonesty in advertising is to implement legislation that declares that companies must clearly state exactly what their product does without using opaque language or misinformation.

In “A Cheating Crisis in America’s Schools,” an ABC Primetime news reporter profiles the modern rise in plagiarism and academic dishonesty. The article states that “Lifting papers off the Internet is one of the newer trends in plagiarism – and technology is giving students even more ways to cheat nowadays” (A Cheating Crisis). In saying this, the reporter echoes the findings of a survey that found that 74% of high school students admitted to cheating on an exam at least once in the year before they were surveyed (A Cheating Crisis). This shocking statistic reveals exactly how significant of a problem academic dishonesty is in the American school system. However, the implications of this cheating go far beyond just high school. The same Primetime report features several college students’ interviews and discovers that many universities are plagued by problems of plagiarism and academic integrity. This has significant negative repercussions in the field of academia; since large volumes of research and study are conducted in universities, issues of cheating even at prestigious institutions such as Harvard and Stanford can result in problems in the publication of scientific material, and they could tarnish the reputation of academic excellence that many of these universities work hard to keep. Along with this, the immoral values that students exhibit through academic integrity have repercussions well after graduation; this lack of integrity could manifest itself more severely in the workplace as opposed to the insulated school environment. More broadly, this issue of cheating and lying relates to the lapse in moral integrity that is likewise exemplified in the advertising industry. Just as advertisers use false marketing and weasel words to position their products as though they are better than they truly are, students find it morally permissible to use the Internet and other tools to do better on exams and papers and, in doing so, position themselves as being more intelligent than they truly are. One possible solution to this issue is the institution of a strict and universal honor code and more severe punishments for breaking this code in colleges and universities.

Another important point that Lutz makes in his essay alludes to the lack of information that advertisers often provide to consumers, usually deliberately. At one point, Lutz argues that “The claim that a battery lasts ‘up to twice as long’ usually doesn’t finish the comparison- twice as long as what? A birthday candle? A tank of gas?” (Lutz 118). Although the statement that Lutz cites is technically true (a battery does, in fact, last up to twice as long as a birthday candle), it drives the consumer to make a natural comparison that might not necessarily be true through the use of a lie of omission. While the statement may not actually be referring to another battery, the natural assumption made by a consumer would be that it is, since that makes sense contextually; the advertiser only takes advantage of this natural, but inaccurate, judgement. As a result, the advertiser is misinforming the consumer, regardless of whether or not the statement being made is semantically correct. Yet phrases like ‘up to twice as long’, ‘new and improved’, and ‘better than before’ are ubiquitous in the consumer world, which serves as an indicator of how ingrained dishonesty and the deliberate spread of misinformation is in our society. Furthermore, this offers a reason for why students may find it morally acceptable to engage in academic cheating; if advertisers in the ‘real world’ cheat all the time, why is it wrong for a student to do it on an assignment? This creation of a culture and mentality of cheating is ultimately detrimental not only to the consumer, but to the common citizen. However, a possible solution to this problem is to set judicial precedent through lawsuits that challenge a corporation’s ability to engage in misrepresentative advertising; by suing corporations that have dishonest advertising campaigns, it is possible to incentivize honesty in marketing and to cultivate a change in the approach companies take in marketing their products.

In “Rise in Dishonesty Signals Looming 'Integrity Crisis' in Britain,” John Bingham writes about the current state of morality and how, in modern society, we find that there has been a rise in dishonesty. “Lying, adultery, drug taking, breaking the speed limit, drunk driving, and handling stolen goods are all seen as more acceptable than they were at the turn of the century,” he concludes (Bingham 1). In saying this, Bingham is explicitly stating the findings that support the contention that modern society has less moral integrity than it has in the past. This idea is further supported by the fact that 50% of people today believe that an extramarital affair is never justified; this is significantly less than the 70% of people who believed this in 2000 (Bingham 2). Furthermore, a cleavage can be seen between younger people and older people; for example, only 33% of people under 25 thought that lying on a job application was never justified, but among people over 65, 55% people believed the same statement. This decrease in morals is further supported by Betty G. Farrell’s essay “Family: Idea, Institution, and Controversy.” In the essay, Farrell cites statistics that show a steady increase in the number of divorces in the past several decades, which suggests that people are more likely to find divorce permissible and moral (Farrell 472). Together, these two sources support the conclusion that can be drawn from the use of doublespeak in advertising as well as the increase in academic cheating and plagiarism: modern society exhibits a lack of moral integrity, and this decline in honesty and integrity is only growing as we move forward in the 21st century. A way to solve this decline in integrity may be to incorporate lessons about integrity and truthfulness into elementary school curriculums; by teaching students about the importance of being honest and having integrity at an impressionable age, we as a society can ensure that we do not propagate a culture of cheating in order to be successful.

Although the decline in moral integrity has been identified in areas such as academia an advertising, defining a clear reason for this decline is significantly more difficult. In the ABC Frontline article, a possible reason is suggested: “In [students’] views, they’re just doing what the rest of the world does. ‘The real world is terrible,’ Joe told Gibson. ‘People will take other people’s materials and pass in on as theirs. I’m numb to it already. I’ll cheat to get by’” (A Cheating Crisis). This excerpt brings up a shocking point about the current state of moral integrity; the lapses in honesty that society exhibits today have led younger generations to perceive those same lapses in honesty as being commonplace and, if not morally correct, simply ‘how the world works’. This notion has led to a further degradation in moral values, which has manifested itself in the large cheating scandals that continue to plague high schools as well as institutions of higher education. This is directly related to other instances of dishonesty that continue to occur in the world of advertising as well as in the world of higher education. Because academic integrity has not been resolved, students with integrity problems have taken these problems with them to the workplace under the impression that lying and deceitful business tactics are the norm and that they are permissible. As a result, dishonesty has manifested itself in the realm of advertising. Ultimately, in order to combat the current decline in moral integrity, it is necessary to deal with the dishonesty that already exists in our society today by instituting stricter punishments for dishonesty in schools and creating a standardized set of academic integrity guidelines for all public schools that can be uniformly administered.

This contention is further corroborated by Bingham’s article in The Telegraph. Towards the end of his article, Bingham writes, “Asked why young people are becoming more dishonest, Prof. Whiteley told BBC Breakfast: ‘We think it is because their role models are not very good - footballers who cheat on their wives, journalists who hack people's phones’” (Bingham 1). In saying this, Bingham implies that the lack of moral integrity in the media, in culture, and in society as a whole has resulted in an inevitable propagation of dishonesty in younger generations. This seems to be in line with statistics that show that older people tend to have more integrity and honesty than younger people do. This idea is extremely important because it shows that younger people such as students do not engage in dishonest behaviors such as academic plagiarism simply because these people are inherently ‘bad.’ Rather, it is modern society and culture that has instilled a mindset of cheating in order to succeed in the minds of its younger people through negative role models and an ingrained culture of dishonesty exemplified by aspects of society such as advertising. A solution to this problem of dishonesty is to ensure that positive and empowering role models are brought to the forefront of culture and media. To do this, news companies such as Time and ABC should have a yearly or bi-yearly feature on the best role models in the media or a periodical critique of the worst role models. Doing so would encourage those with a large public presence to be more moral.

Each of the pieces mentioned offers a different angle on the issue of devolving moral integrity and values. While Lutz’s essay focuses on doublespeak in the realm of advertising and consumerism, the Frontline report focuses on cheating in schools, and the Telegraph article centers around gauging changes in moral integrity over time. However, each piece reaches the same ultimate conclusion: there is an unavoidable abundance of dishonesty in our society today. The academic dishonesty that exists in schools is a direct result of, as well as a catalyst for, the entrenched nature of dishonesty in the form of advertising, role models, and general attitudes that exists in society today. Regardless, some may argue that the studies cited in both the ABC and Telegraph articles constitute a composition/division fallacy since they depend on surveys, which may not always be representative of a complete population, in order to support their conclusions regarding society’s current moral state. However, several extremely detailed and thorough studies have corroborated the conclusions drawn by both these pieces. For example, an in-depth Pew Research Center study has shown that 55% of college presidents believe plagiarism has increased significantly in the past 10 years and that 95% of college presidents believe plagiarism has stayed the same or increased in the past 10 years (Parker, Lenhart, and Moore 2). As a result, it can be seen that, although a composition/division fallacy may appear to be present in the defense of the thesis, the evidence used is not fallacious in nature.

The points about the decline in moral integrity and honesty that is happening in society today that are made by these pieces are strong on their own; however, there are other literary sources that show the detrimental effects that dishonesty can have on one’s life. For example, A Streetcar Named Desire studies how lying can cause one’s life to unravel and one’s relationships to be strained, if not broken. This is highlighted by the character Blanche, who lies about her past in order to protect her reputation with her sister and her sister’s husband. In the end, the lying causes Blanche to lose her love interest and to fall into insanity. This idea of dishonesty causing a negative impact on one’s relationships with others also exists in the real world; in “Family: Idea, Institution, and Controversy,” Betty G. Farrell studies how divorce rates have increased in the past few years and she suggests that a decline in moral integrity may be a factor that causes these splits. When considered collectively, these pieces underline the fact that modern moral integrity and honesty is deteriorating, and they show that the effects of this deterioration is not only detrimental to the individual’s relationships, but to society as a whole in the form of technological advancement and scientific discovery.

Ultimately, all of these sources support one crucial point: society is experiencing a negative change in moral integrity. It is important to note that this does not mean that society is ‘bad’ or ‘evil.’ Regardless, dishonesty has manifested itself in the world of advertising, academia, and family values, and it has contributed negatively to our society. As a result, it is important to identify these incidences as being lapses in integrity and to change our view and attitudes as a society and a culture in order to become more honest and moral and in doing so, eliminate some of the problems that are hindering our collective growth.