noble lies in society theme
Can a myth or untruth (often, but not invariably, of a religious nature) knowingly propagated by an elite to maintain social harmony or to advance an agenda ever be justified as benefiting society more than it harms it in the long run?
6 total · 1 choice · 2 major · 3 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| movie: OBi OBa: The End of Civilization (1985) | choice | Soft struggled with his job of having to circulate a myth among the survivors of a nuclear holocaust, who were living inside a crumbling dome, that a vessel known as The Ark was on its way to rescue them. The leadership used the myth as a way to keep up morale. |
| movie: The Postman (1997) | major | The Postman inadvertently bootstrapped a nation into being by lying to everyone that he was a representative of the Restored United States (a country that he made up on the spot) and that it was run by the noble President Starkey (a man who didn't exits), and so on. |
| rbt1985e4x08 | major | The utopian society of the year 2100 was based on the lie that Stiles had, a century prior, traveled to their time and brought back news of the marvels to come. This spurred the decaying society of the year 2000 to build the world of 2100 with confidence. In the end, Roger choose to perpetuate the lie. |
| ds92x15 | minor | Alixus lied to her followers by orchestrating a crash landing on a planet that was ideal for her technology free colony |
| novel: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) | minor | Mannie, Prof, and Wyoh decided to keep secret from the people of Luna that a sentient computer was the nominal leader of the revolution. |
| rd1988e3x06 | minor | The idea that Heaven was made up to keep people complacent and sane was explored. |