Like I promised last week this particular post is another comment on Fox’s show House. I got season two in the mail last week and I have just started watching it so far I’m still in love, but the purpose of this post is not too dote on the hit show but rather ponder the episode “The Mistake.” In short what happens is that Chase become distracted by the death of his father and misses a symptom in a women that eventually leads to her death. The story is a rather complex series of lies from both House and Chase as they try to justify and cope with the mistake.
This got me thinking, why do we need justify ourselves - to both ourselves and others, where does this drive to please people and shirk the blame come from? Granted it was Chase’s fault that he didn’t address the patient’s stomach pains and yet he was shock and overcome with grief at the unexpected news of his father’s death. And yet he felt he was responsible and needed some type of punishment, whether he deserved it or not and so he told the patients brother that he missed the diagnosis because of a hangover – but why?
That leads me to the next big thought provoking issue – why lie? In the episode House and Chase lie numerous times. Maybe they do it to cover their tracks, and I’m pretty sure House does it to get what he wants. Looking at it though a huge part of the show in general is that everybody lies; they say that they do it to protect themselves but usually it is what that ends up trying to kill them. Ironically House is the one that preaches this the most and yet he is the worst. To make the plot more complicated though it’s not just House and Chase that lie, the patients bother Sam actually lies about his ability to donate part of his liver to save his sister. His dishonesty infects her with hepatitis C and cancer, so in reality it is just as much his fault that she died and Chase knows this but he lies anyways. I don’t think lying brings pleasure but maybe it makes things easier and in the short term more justifiable after all the patients family got some settlement money and go to keep their house – but Chase could have lost his license.
So, why do we do what we do? Why do we lie and then cover it up with another lie? Why do we bribe? Why do we justify our actions no matter how wrong or right they are? Why are our actions always judged so critically? Many of these I can’t answer they are way beyond my area of expertise and yet I can’t help but what shows like House and wonder why? If I really put things in perspective though I would guess that each answer is different for every person out there.
This got me thinking, why do we need justify ourselves - to both ourselves and others, where does this drive to please people and shirk the blame come from? Granted it was Chase’s fault that he didn’t address the patient’s stomach pains and yet he was shock and overcome with grief at the unexpected news of his father’s death. And yet he felt he was responsible and needed some type of punishment, whether he deserved it or not and so he told the patients brother that he missed the diagnosis because of a hangover – but why?
That leads me to the next big thought provoking issue – why lie? In the episode House and Chase lie numerous times. Maybe they do it to cover their tracks, and I’m pretty sure House does it to get what he wants. Looking at it though a huge part of the show in general is that everybody lies; they say that they do it to protect themselves but usually it is what that ends up trying to kill them. Ironically House is the one that preaches this the most and yet he is the worst. To make the plot more complicated though it’s not just House and Chase that lie, the patients bother Sam actually lies about his ability to donate part of his liver to save his sister. His dishonesty infects her with hepatitis C and cancer, so in reality it is just as much his fault that she died and Chase knows this but he lies anyways. I don’t think lying brings pleasure but maybe it makes things easier and in the short term more justifiable after all the patients family got some settlement money and go to keep their house – but Chase could have lost his license.
So, why do we do what we do? Why do we lie and then cover it up with another lie? Why do we bribe? Why do we justify our actions no matter how wrong or right they are? Why are our actions always judged so critically? Many of these I can’t answer they are way beyond my area of expertise and yet I can’t help but what shows like House and wonder why? If I really put things in perspective though I would guess that each answer is different for every person out there.
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