Last Sunday I addressed the power of Christian hope. As a part of that I shared Victor Frankl's observation in Man's Search for Meaning that for those in the concentration camps of World War II the primary difference between those who survived and those who did not was the presence of hope. Those who had it survived and those who didn't perished. Hope is a life and death matter.
This brings to mind a film that wrestles with hope in a similar way but adds another dimension, Jakob the Liar (1999). Robin Williams plays a Jewish man in a Polish ghetto during WW II. The conditions are terrible and there seems to be no end in sight for the deprivation and suffering. It is then that Jakob begins to feign having a secret crystal radio through which he receives news of the progress of the war. He continues to provide positive "fake news" (of the earliest sort!) to bolster his downhearted people. In effect, he trades in truth for hope. Is that ever justifiable?
Aunt Agnus walks into the room wearing the most hideous dress you can remember and asks you straight out, "How do you like my new dress?" You love Aunt Agnus. You would never intentionally hurt her in any way. Do you lie to her to protect her feelings? Do you varnish the truth with redirection? "Why I don't believe I've ever seen a color pattern so vivid!" Unerring truthfulness? Under what conditions?
It is one thing to distort the truth for the sake of propaganda; to influence the public through erroneous facts, lies and a false account of events. It is another to protect Aunt Agnus's feelings. Then there is the other category, the category of encouragement. Do you tell people help is on the way to bolster hope so they don't give up, even when help is not on the way?
Is the morality of truthfulness dependent on other factors such as intent, whether bending the truth is strictly self-serving or serves a higher or more altruistic purpose? Or is truth telling an absolute moral principle, not dependent on situation or circumstance?
If you were Jakob what would you have done?
