Individuals or groups of people attempt to lie strategically when they think it will benefit them, or bring some advantage, or get them ahead.
On the other hand, some lie when they think that it will bring harm to a rival. Others lie in a vain attempt to lessen the hurt others may receive from hearing the truth.
Still others have become very comfortable telling half-truths. They soothe their conscience, kidding themselves into thinking they have told mostly truth and therefore have not really lied—or at least not lied in a big way. “I’m not a compulsive or pathological liar,” they reason. Sadly, they do not seem to realize that a half-truth is, at the same time, a half-lie. Can we build a just society if we hear the truth only 50 percent of the time?
Any time we lie and our intent is to deceive another, we are wandering away from truth and into troubled waters. Deception sets up an unstable relationship prone to upset and decay. An old proverb by Sir Walter Scott states it well, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” Deceivers often then find themselves having to construct a second, third and fourth lie to try to cover the tracks of the first lie.
When a scandal breaks, the discovery of an attempt to cover up is often regarded as even more reprehensible than the original deeds.
Initially a cover-up may require little effort; it will be carried out by those closely involved with the misdeed. Once some hint of the hidden matter starts to become known, the cover-up gradually draws all the top leadership, at least, of an organization into complicity in covering up a misdeed or even crime that may have originally been committed. This may be regarded as tacit approval of that behavior
It is likely that some cover-ups are successful, although by definition this cannot be confirmed. Many fail, however, as more and more people are drawn in and the possibility of exposure makes potential accomplices fearful of supporting the cover-up and as loose ends that may never normally have been noticed start to stand out. As it spreads, the cover-up itself creates yet more suspicious circumstances.
The cover-up adds so many additional crimes Such as obstruction of justice, perjury, payoffs and bribes. So the cover-up becomes much more serious than the original crime.