"It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." - Noel Coward
Honesty can be defined as freedom from deceit or fraud. Traditionally, deceit and fraud have been looked at being as bad things, and things that parents would not want to instill in their children. Parents are dissatisfied when their children are deceitful, or when their children are participants of fraudulent activity. They are more pleased when their children are honest, and when their children tell them the truth. As adults, many times this appreciation for honesty goes overlooked, as deceit has replaced it as being the norm. As a friend of mine said, "We are now living in times where everything bad is good." Deceit, fraud, and hypocrisy are becoming more common in our daily interactions, even among many of our elected representatives and people in positions of public trust. We are now becoming more shocked at people who are honest, instead of being more shocked at people who are deceitful. 
The media has displayed this effect in full force as a new series of TV shows has shed light on this phenomenon. Shows such as Cheaters, American Greed and Masterminds display countless situations in which honesty is null and void. Instead, they have been replaced with lies and deceit that have come at the expense of others, whether it be emotional, physical or monetary. On cheaters, deceit destroys relationships. American Greed focuses on the stories behind some of the biggest corporate and white-collar crimes in the United States. Everything from insurance fraud, murder, embezzlement, and art theft, to Ponzi schemes, bank robbery, money laundering and identity theft. From what I've seen, Masterminds recounts events involving master crimes - in which people are witnessing for the first time - which are usually for the purposes of personal attainment. I understand that people are going to continue to be deceitful until the end of time, but my question is, "Why are people so accepting of it?" I remember talking to some friends and family about certain episodes that totally shocked me. The funny thing was, that to them it was nothing out of the ordinary. 
I remember watching an episode of American Greed where a preacher was conning other churches out of money by promising them a lot more money in return. He lied and told them that he was investing the money into a fund that would - within a few months - give them big payouts. He targeted small churches that needed help with expanding and were looking for a way to do so. But the corrupt preacher didn't invest the money. Instead he kept it for himself and lived a life of luxury and lavish spending. Eventually, the FBI seized his 12 houses and approximately 30 cars. They found pictures of him flaunting his money in front of his numerous fancy cars. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Here is a man - supposedly of God - using his position of public trust and calling to the pulpit, to rob neighboring congregations out of millions of dollars. When the church members became impatient with the lack of being paid their promised returns, the preacher used Bible scripture to justify his not paying them back on time. He pointed them to scriptures which instructed them to "be patient" and to "not judge" him. After telling a friend about this, I remember him saying that, "Preachers do that all the time." Here I was completely shocked at the deceit of this preacher, and here was my friend who wasn't the least bit shocked. 
There is a countless list of other well-known names that have made news headlines for their deceitful acts: Kwame Kilpatrick, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, Bishop Eddie Long, Marion Berry etc. I personally wasn't shocked by any of them and could actually see a couple of them coming. What gets me is when people are found out to have been 100 percent honest after being accused of lying, cheating, deceit etc. People are usually shocked that the person was actually telling the truth, the entire time. As if it is that hard to believe. Take for instance, a show like Maury, when a woman brings her boyfriend or husband on the show to accuse him of cheating. She says she is 101 percent sure that he is being unfaithful. The crowd is behind her even though the boyfriend says he has never cheated on her - not one time - in their five years together. After he passes all of the lie detector test, people seem almost shocked to find out that this man was actually telling the truth! Like there is no such thing as an honest man who loves his girlfriend or wife enough to not even consider stepping out of her with another woman. I know that he would be a minority in this situation, but for every dishonest man that is out here cheating on his woman, there is another man that is ready and waiting to be faithful to her. 
Just as recent as last month we saw members of the U.S. secret service participate in the soliciting of Colombian prostitutes as well as the heavy drinking of alcohol. A surprise to no one right? All I saw people saying on Facebook was, "They are still human", "Colombian woman are beautiful", and "Giving them a badge and a uniform doesn't change their sexual urge." C'mon now . . . you have to be kidding me. Here are sworn in government employees assigned to protect the president of the United States of America - who in my opinion is the single most important person in the world - and are out picking up hookers and getting drunk days before the president arrives. Maybe I'm being a little bit too hard on these guys but not only are they making themselves look like idiots, they are making the president - as well as America - look bad. But no one seems to have paid that much mind.
Colombian prostitute Dania Londono Suarez
In closing, it seems like this quote used to be perceived the other way around, but something has obviously changed. What ever happened to people being shocked by deceit? Where did the transition begin and how did it get to where it is today? I don't have the answers to these question but I at least thought that I would raise them. Movie director Spike Lee has developed a similar reputation in that many times he asks questions in his movies but never gives clear answers for them. For example, in his movie Do The Right Thing, did the people who started the riot after the murder of Radio Raheem actually 'do the right thing?' I don't know, and I don't think Spike knows either. All he left us with were two different perspectives from civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.; something for us to think about. I guess we all have different perspectives on what is right, wrong and acceptable. In comparing life to a movie, it is my personal hope that in the end the good and honest defeat the bad and deceitful. But with the way things are going, that would "honesty" "shock" me. It was Aaron Eckhart in the 2008 blockbuster film, The Dark Knight, who said, "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
