WHAT IS THE COST OF LIES?
"Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. So where we once would fear the cost of truth, now we only ask: what is the cost of lies?" — Valery Legasov
Anything is better than lies and deceit! — Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is. — Barbara Bush
There is beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don't teach anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul. — José N. Harris
I always say the truth is best even when we find it unpleasant. Any rat in a sewer can lie. It's how rats are. It's what makes them rats. But a human doesn't run and hide in dark places, because he's something more. Lying is the most personal act of cowardice there is. — Nancy Farmer, The House of the Scorpion
The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyone's comfort — Katherine Dunn, Geek Love
The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them. — Elena Gorokhova, A Mountain of Crumbs
Our model
This week, we continue our ethically intelligent journey to Wisdom. We maintain our focus on the foundation of ethical intelligence — TRUTH. Without truth, nothing else can stand. We know what happens when a building’s foundation crumbles. We recently had a grim reminder of foundation failure consequences in the Florida condominium collapse.
In this article, I want us to consider the cost of lying. Unfortunately, most people approach the “cost” subject from a different angle. We ask this question of ourselves, usually mentally, "What will telling the truth cost me?” Asking ourselves this question is particularly prevalent in today’s world given our viscous cancel culture. For example, answering an employer’s job satisfaction survey truthfully can get you blackballed or, worse, fired!
When and how did simply telling the truth become so toxic? The answer is, it's always been around but mostly relegated to totalitarian societies and criminal organizations. This became obvious to me when I entered the phrase, "the cost of lies" in my favorite confidential search engine because the name Valery Legasov appeared in my search results, several times.
My interest was piqued because I had no idea who Valery Legasov is/was. It didn’t take long, however, to determine that Valery was connected to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that occurred in April 1986. Many hours of research later, I not only had refreshed my knowledge of Chernobyl but also a deep understanding and admiration for the Soviet citizen known as Valery Legasov.
For those who never heard of or forgotten the basic facts of the Chernobyl disaster, here is a brief synopsis.
Chernobyl is a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that was the site of a disastrous nuclear accident on April 26, 1986. A routine test at the power plant went horribly wrong, and two massive explosions blew the 1,000-ton roof off one of the plant’s reactors, releasing 400 times more radiation than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The worst nuclear disaster in history killed two workers in the explosions and, within months, at least 28 more would be dead by acute radiation exposure. Eventually, thousands of people would show signs of health effects—including cancer—from the fallout….
It took days for Soviet leadership to inform the international community that the disaster had occurred. The Soviet government made no official statement about the global-scale accident until Swedish leaders demanded an explanation when operators of a nuclear power plant in Stockholm registered unusually high radiation levels near their plant….Most people, even within the Ukraine, were still unaware of the accident, the deaths, and the hasty evacuations of Pripyat….
The damaged plant released a large quantity of radioactive substances, including iodine-131, cesium-137, plutonium and strontium-90, into the air for over a period of 10 days.
The radioactive cloud was deposited nearby as dust and debris, but was also carried by wind over the Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe.
In an attempt to contain the fallout, on May 14, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the dispatch of hundreds of thousands of people, including firefighters, military reservists and miners, to the site to aid in clean-up. The corps worked steadily, often with inadequate protective gear, through 1989 to clear debris and contain the disaster. [1]
Included in the hundreds of thousands was Valery Legasov. Within a few days of the accident, Legasov was dispatched as co-project manager of the disaster recovery team. Although he never got closer than several miles from the site, Legasov still suffered from substantial radiation poisoning because he was genuinely concerned with mitigating the impacts of the disaster.
The immediate cleanup aftermath of the event, lasting more than 18 months, was a monstrous mosaic of lies, coverups, corruption, conniving and resulted in needless death and destruction of completely innocent people merely trying to do their jobs or suffering the misfortune of living within proximity of the disaster site. First responders reported the intensity of the radiation stung their faces like a sandstorm. All died within a few weeks from radiation poisoning.
Because of the intense trauma Legasov experienced during his time supervising cleanup activities, studying and learning the causes of the accident and the subsequent lies he was compelled to tell, in April 1988, Legasov committed suicide at age 51.
In my opinion, an opinion shared by thousands of others, Valery Legasov was a hero, but he considered his life a failure. He said the following after presenting his 387 page Chernobyl report in Vienna in 1987:
I did not lie in Vienna... but I did not tell the full truth.
Valery Legasov was a Soviet man through and through. He was born and died in the Soviet Union. He was a product of the Soviet educational system, eventually earning a doctorate in chemistry. He educated himself in nuclear physics and became more and more disturbed by what he discovered about Soviet nuclear reactor design and the abysmal training given nuclear operators. Speaking out and telling the truth was a fatal error in the Soviet Union.
Legasov became a world-renowned figure due to his Chernobyl work. Nonetheless, his internal critics noted that he had moved up through the bureaucracy and taken as much advantage of the system as they had. As far as other Soviet scientists were concerned, he was just another apparatchik who lied to get along just as they did. Legasov understood the criticism, but towards the end, he made this profound statement about truth.
Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. So where we once would fear the cost of truth, now we only ask: what is the cost of lies? And the real danger is, if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.
We will never know the cost of the Chernobyl lies and coverups. Direct financial costs are estimated at $68 billion in 1986 dollars. The human cost is incalculable. Death estimates range from a low of 5,000 to a high of 90,000. There have been tens of thousands of cancers related to the Chernobyl radiation, especially the second generation offspring of soldiers exposed to the radiation.
LIES ALWAYS HAVE A COST, USUALLY PAID BY THE INNOCENT.
Here is a final thought. As I read the details of Legasov’s life under the Soviet system of government, a system built on secrecy, lies and coverups, I could not help but notice a disturbingly and eerily similarity to our own government’s actions over the past many years. We’ll have more about this later.
Judy’s ethical dilemma
As promised here is my response to last week’s offshoring case. In my opinion, there is little to analyze here. Leaders are responsible for followers. Leaders have no higher calling than the well-being of their followers. Ask any military commander about the primacy of the safety of their team. General Patton said as much. You must have a relationship with your team, meaning you have their back!
In this case, I would take Megan aside and give her a full explanation as to what is coming. She can, then, make an informed decision. I would hope that my relationship with her is strong enough for her to honor my request of confidentiality. Yes. This course of action may mean I lose my job. But, jobs are easier to find than searching for lost honor and a damaged character. And, I would sleep better at night.
Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
Next week, we will continue our discussion of the ethical intelligence pyramid and its tiers.
Remember, you cannot lie and be ethically intelligent.
Until then, Shalom!
Portions of this post were taken from my book Ethical Intelligence: The Foundation of Leadership. and my doctoral dissertation Exploring Ethical Intelligence Through Ancient Wisdom And The Lived Experiences Of Senior Business Leaders.
References
Unknown. (2021, 04/23/2021). Chernobyl. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/chernobyl
Unknown. (N.D.). Valery Legasov. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Legasov
May 19, 2022, Volume 2, Issue 20