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What is cheating.....really?
In the wake of Lance Armstrong's "confession", most are calling him a cheat. A majority of the most famous and wealthy people have cut corners to get to where they are. If you get a job because you know the hiring manager over a more qualified candidate, have you cheated? If you sleep with a director to get the role...have you cheated? Yes, there are well spelled out rules in sports (among other professions) but what about other areas in life where our morality defines the rules?
Chris Cap Hayes
It also depends whats at stake. People tend to not forgive independent gain, but what about national gain? We have intelligence agencies in place to sneak around and help us cheat in warfare and find antagonists. We don't line up in front of each other with muskets anymore.
Cheating takes so much skill...a skill that makes it not exist
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
Every sector of the civilised societies are governed by peculiar laws and ethical guidelines. Any violation of such is cheating.
Luis Javier Salvador 30+
edward long 100+
Luis Javier Salvador 30+
edward long 100+
Luis Javier Salvador 30+
However, everyone is entitled to their opinion and the law shouldn't shape our moral code, rather the other way around, in my view.
There is no denying that we have to respect and obey the law, however, we also have the right to disagree with it. So that's why I think "cheating" is subjective, except when the law is applied.
edward long 100+
Luis Javier Salvador 30+
The point is every person has their own views, regardless of the law. In fact, I cannot think of an individual who agrees with every single law in the country.
I personally am not going to change my moral code just because the law says so, which is not to say that I won't conform to the law, though. But that's just my view, anyway.
edward long 100+
carolyn mcauley 10+
edward long 100+
Random Chance 30+
Deceiving oneself and deceiving others becomes a cyclical condition if you will, and I believe it works both ways.
If, as TEDLover said, it is self-deception (and I agree, to some degree), that can be defined as the "active misrepresention of reality to ones own mind/self." Deception is, "the active misrepresentation of reality to anothers mind/self."
I think the studies done by Robert Trivers showed that both are important if not actually necessary. They both do however become sharpened on both sides of the blade.
Otherwise, cheating is just another way of getting something, just as stealing is.
There is a point at which I don't think either is wrong or immoral.
Barry Palmer 50+
Generally, anytime anyone does something immoral or illegal to obtain money, promote their career, or obtain any other value, they are cheating. Also some activities, especially sports, have specific rules, and breaking those rules is cheating.
Unfortunately, cheating has become the norm in some activities, and has become accepted practice just because it is so widespread. Politics is an obvious example. One of my pet peeves is advertising; people make the most unbelievable claims for their products. Some commercials make statements which are each true when examined individually, but when they are strung together give an impression which is completely false. I think this is cheating, and people are building their careers with these methods. Even when cheating is common, it is still cheating, and people who cheat should not be praised.
Some people believe that cheating on your taxes is normal. IMO, Congress has promoted this idea by building a tax code that is immoral. Getting a tax credit put into law depends not on whether it is good for the country, but on how much you donate to election funds.
"Cutting corners" can include moral as well as immoral behavior, so it is not a good phrase to use to draw the line.
greg dahlen 20+
Cheating I would say has an aspect of violence. Emotional or physical violence done to others, a lack of empathy, a lack of self-esteem and self-respect.
Every scenario would have to be viewed individually to see whether cheating occurred. And the degree of harm would have to be considered as well. In the scenario where you get a job because of knowing someone, we still must assume that you are capable of doing the job. We would also assume that you didn't know who else was competing for the job, whether they were better than you or not. With the actress, we still know that she must be capable of playing the role. So if these are cheats, they are relatively minor. In fact, it's hard for me to believe that whoever would hire these people would choose the person who can't do the job as well, because how well they do the job determines the success of the business, and reflects back on who hired them. I'm more inclined to think that if two people are equal, the hiring manager might choose the person he or she knows, and the same with the actress.
Robert Winner 50+
So the bottom line is that we accept that politicians are corrupt, liers, and cheaters with little or no morals and movie stars are immoral and would sleep with anyone to get a part, get naked for bucks, etc ... Barry Bonds and Pete Rose in baseball scandals ... olympic scandals ... and the list goes on. It is amazing that Jim and Tammy Baker still have a following ...
So the question is why are some labeled cheats and sent to prison ... and other accepted and are "only human". Where is that line drawn and by whom.
Is this another example of the power of the media or are we really that dumb.
I wish you well. Bob.
Gabe Ozoani
Gail . 50+
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Gabe Ozoani
Fritzie Reisner 100+
I ask this, because one reason some people cheat is that they believe, typically without looking very hard for evidence, that "everybody does it."
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