“House,” niceness, and being a jerk

I‘m a fan of the TV show House, which features the titular character Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), an genius of a doctor who specializes in diagnosing unexplained illnesses and ailments. The comedy in the show comes from House’s abrasive, misanthropic personality. He verbally slaps around both his patients and his underlings, plays pranks on his only friend, and treats his boss with utter disrespect. In particular, the contrast between House and his friend James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), a nice guy who goes out of his way to flatter and lie to people to assuage their egos is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the show.

One example of this is in an episode from last season that I re-watched recently, “Joy to the World.” One of the subplots of this episode involves Wilson betting House that he can’t be nice to a patient. House subsequently diagnoses a clinic patient complaining of headaches as pregnant, despite her claims of her and her fiancé being virgins. House orders a paternity test, the results of which show that the woman’s baby was the result of parthenogenesis, a spontaneous genetic mutation that resulted in one of her eggs being fertilized without the need for sperm. After receiving a gift from the couple following this news (and winning the bet), House reveals that he faked the paternity test, the real results of which showed that the woman had in fact cheated on her soon-to-be husband. House concocted the bogus parthenogenesis story in order to save the couple’s relationship – a “nice” goal.

Meanness in the pursuit of truth is no vice; niceness in the defense of lies is no virtue.