I regard a recent episode “House of Lies” to be on par with, if not worst than what many fans consider to be the absolute worst Loud House episode, “No Such Luck”. But why is this, well...
The episode has a moral that tells its audience that it's okay to lie. I feel that this is a terrible moral, especially since it's directed at young kids. I was raised with the mentality that lying of all kinds, even white lies, are bad. I was also taught that instead of telling the blunt, honest truth that could be incredibly hurtful and harmful to another individual, that you should instead try and use your words to try and “soften the blow” of the hurtful words. An example that I like to use is that when you have your dinner, people often times like to put salt on their meal in order for the taste to be heightened. If you put too much salt on your meal, it tastes worse, but if you put just the right amount of salt on it, your meal can be even more delicious. For example: Let's take into account the scene where Leni is showing Lincoln her new spiked haircut. Instead of Lincoln just telling her the blatant truth that her hair looks bad, he could say something like, “Leni, I am not sure if I like this haircut, but that haircut you had last week was really great, I think you should have your hair cut like that next time. I'll even come with you next time to make sure that the stylist gets it just right”. In this example, Lincoln does indeed tell the truth that he did not like Leni's haircut, but he used the right amount of words to spare the precious cinnamon roll of having hurt feelings. This, I feel, should've been the moral that this episode should've teached.
And some people may still say that telling smaller "white lies" are not harmful, but I beg to differ. You see, white lies can set a pattern that can lead to a practice of lying that may involve serious matters. Lies, no matter how innocent they seem to be, are destructive to good human relationships. The credibility of the liar is shattered, and there may well be a permanent breakdown of trust. Famous essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.” It is easy for a liar to make a false statement about another person. Although he presents no proof, his lie creates doubt, and many believe him without investigating his claim. Thus the reputation of the innocent person is damaged, and he carries the burden of proving his innocence. It is, therefore, frustrating when people believe the liar rather than the innocent person, and it destroys the innocent person's relationship with the liar.
I was thinking about what would've happened had Lincoln been peer-pressured to steal money, possibly from young people in his school who could be perceived as "bad influences". They tell him that as long as he continues to lie and continues to deny it, he will never get in trouble and no one will ever doubt him, and seeing how dumb his family acts and how trusting they are to all these white lies, this scenario to me does not seem outside the realm of possibility for not only Lincoln, but any of the other siblings as well.
A liar can easily develop the practice of lying. One lie usually leads to another, then another, then another, then another. Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, once said "There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual." It is the road to moral collapse.
This, my friends, is why I regard this episode so low. Why I think this episode has a negative and potentially harmful outlook. The Loud House is a show primarily aimed at children, and the people who work on these shows have a responsibility. If you are going to make a sure that teaches morals, like Loud House, then you have to have your morals make sense and you have to have morals actually work. This "lying is okay as long as it's small" moral could lead the audience to think that it's okay to do in real life, and like the example I gave above of Lincoln stealing money, the kids could do the same, or perhaps... even worse. I am not going to talk about what else someone, especially a minor who is easily influenced by what they see on the television screens, could get involved with, but let's just say that it ain't pretty.
Sure maybe technically "No Such Luck" is far worse, I have not seen that episode in a long time and I do not plan on rewatching it, but this one, made me just super angry and unpleasant while watching it, so much so that for the rest of the day, my day was ruined and I could not enjoy the episode that came afterwards "Game Boys", because of it, even though that episode was decent.
You are allowed to disagree with my statement, you are allowed to hold your opinion but try to respect my opinion. This episode is, I believe, incredibly harmful and on par with the worst of the worst this show has to offer. I just hope that they don't plan on making any more episodes like this.
Also red-haired Leni is absolutely freaking gorgeous. How dare they say it looked bad. F-minus-minus see me after class!
~Tyler