Lying isn't part of Marine Corps culture

Jessica Bennett wrote a column on Aug. 26 for Newsweek about lying. She writes, "We are a culture of liars."

She references Robert Feldman, author of a new book about lying entitled "The Liar in your Life," who writes in his book that the average person tells at least three lies in the first 10 minutes of a conversation.

"We are a culture of liars, to put it bluntly" Bennett says, "with deceit so deeply ingrained in our psyches that we hardly even notice we’re engaging in it. Spam e-mail, deceptive advertising, the everyday pleasantries we don’t really mean — ‘It’s so great to meet you!’ and ‘I love that dress’ — have, as Feldman puts it, become ‘an omnipresent white noise we’ve learned to tune out.’"

I admit I do a bit of lying myself. I suppose most of us do. I like to think that my lies are only little white lies, intended to limit hurt.

For instance, I don’t tell my wife, "You’ve put on a few pounds," even though it may be true. I don’t want to sleep on the couch, hence the reason I fail to tell my wife the truth (if in fact it is the truth — I’m not saying it is or it isn’t in this public forum. Another white lie?).

Bennett quotes Feldman as saying, though, that "the more lies we tell, even if they’re little white lies, the more deceptive we and society become."

I suppose that’s true, but there is certainly little to be gained by not telling one’s wife that she has put on a few pounds — except for a minor thing like peace on earth and good will toward men.

It is lying for the purposes of real personal gain that is the problematic kind of lying. Lying by a guy to a girl to get her to go further than she might otherwise go. Lying to a boss to avoid being chastised or to cover poor job performance.

These are not white lies but lies that actually can do harm.

While Bennett may claim we’re a culture of liars, she is speaking predominately of the civilian world. She is not speaking of the Marine Corps, where lying, to be sure, is far less frequent.

Part of the reason for the culture of lying in the civilian world is one of those unintended consequences we hear so much about. An unintended consequence of the political correctness rampant in the civilian world is lying. Truth is not told for fear of offence. We dance around an issue telling little white lies because we don’t want to offend the person that, frankly, could actually benefit from hearing the honest truth.

As a retired Marine and a federal employee working with Marines, I can happily write that so far, political correctness has not permeated the Marine Corps culture to the extent it has in civilian culture. Marines will still tell another Marine how it really is.

Marines tell it like it is whether at boot camp or on the job. "Tell it to the Marines" is the caption of an old Marine Corps recruiting poster, and Marines tell it to each other without abandon or concern for political correctness day in and day out. It’s part of the Marine Corps mantra. Marines do not have a culture of lying that permeates civilian society, as Bennett writes.

I’m glad the Marine Corps is a vestige of American society with less political correctness and lying. I hope the Corps can defend itself from this tenacious enemy more dangerous to its existence than any foe past, present or future.

Yes, there are a few knuckleheads in the Corps — those who lie, cheat, steal and murder.

But, they are an abomination to the Maine Corps’ culture and don’t represent the majority of Marines. They are not true Marines.

Yet even good Marines, as brutally honest as they may be to each other and as anti-lying as they may be, still tell a few little white lies. I don’t agree with Robert Feldman that this necessarily means the Marines are becoming more deceptive.

"Mr. Bin laden, we are actually miles away from your cave and have no idea where you really are. You don’t have anything to fear."

Barry Fetzer is a retired Marine whose column appears here every other week.