Lying is the new black

A 68-year-old Swedish man was just fined 100,000 kronor for ramming an anchored sailboat and fleeing the scene. Even though he was drunk when the police nicked him at home afterwards, the court could not sentence him for motoring under the influence.
Why not? Well, the man claims that he stayed sober during the late summertime dinner he enjoyed with friends, took the boat home, accidentally ramming the sailboat (which, by the way, severely injured his wife), then cannonballed three large whiskys as soon as he got home.
Really?
Even though everybody can see through this lame explanation, it got him off the hook for the drunk driving part. And this seems to be the proscribed MO these days – lie, lie, lie until your face turns blue. No matter that you look like a spineless wanker and make a mockery out of the justice system – do whatever it takes to maximize your own comfort.
Things like owning up and taking responsibility are hopelessly out of fashion, which puts me in a jiffy when it comes to bringing up my own two boys. Should I persist in teaching them to be honest, trustworty and all that other outdated Boy Scout halleluia? Or should I teach them to lie to the police and courts, and in general be self-absorbed jerks?
Robert Wright puts it this way in “The Moral Animal”:
“These days, an upper middle-class man who by example teaches his son to be slick and superficially sincere, to tell minor lies in profusion, to work harder on promise than delivery, may well be equipping him for success.”
Say it isn’t so.