COLUMN: Everyone makes mistakes, but lies are intentional
Everyone has that special story that seems too unbelievable to possibly be true. It forces us to either spend far too much time trying to prove what we said is true or give up and live content, knowing at least we know what really happened.
It’s like all those chance meeting stories you hear about where Bill Murray walks up to your table, eats a handful of your fries, says “no one will ever believe you” and then walks away.
Try as you might, unless someone caught it on camera, no one will believe a comedy legend ate your fries and then just walked away.
It doesn't matter whether innocent stories like that are true or not when you’re just the average person sharing the story and a beer with a friend.
When you hold a position that relies on credibility, however, having any lack of truth in what you say can damage not just your career but your livelihood as a whole.
With the controversy surrounding NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams’ lapse of honesty behind several anecdotes about his time covering the Iraq invasion, among other things, credibility in the media has once again been severely damaged and will likely suffer for many years to come.
Some might say Williams was just embellishing the truth; it’s not a big deal and we should just move on.
There’s a big difference between embellishing the truth and telling an outright lie.
When you embellish, little things here and there might get spiced up with colorful language and zesty verbiage, but the truth remains the same.
When you tell a story about something that happened to someone else but change that someone to yourself, the story becomes a lie.
Putting yourself in the experiences of another person for your own gain is plagiarism of the human condition. Of all people, Williams should have known better.
