Wednesday, July 18, 2007
On Men and Morals
Ive recently been faced with a moral dilemma of sorts, however let me give some background first. At my graduation party last month i got into a fight with my Uncle and dad's cousin regaurding some rather ignorant comments they made regaurding Islam, Israel, and economics. I argued that their ignorance and racism were morally wrong and indefensible (whereas even the "Well its just an opinon" did not apply). After the dust settled and some some days past my father began hassle me with hard moral dilemmas. After driving a friend to a party (so as he could get drunk) then driving home, my father asked me "Is it moral to facilitate his incapacity, when you yourself are opposed to drinking?" I still wonder today whether I am being a responcible individual by being a (permanent) designated driver (thus putting the kabosh on drinking and driving) or am I myself being irresponcible and immoral by faciliating behavior which I myself am morally opposed to?
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4 comments:
It seems to me like from some of what you said to me the other day that your definite disapproval of alchohol consumption is still pending on what you think of it in context of Jewish culture. But in the case of facilitating something you disapprove of for someone else I think it could be a twofold issue. If the thing that you are opposed to is not affecting anyone but the person whom you are facilitating it for, then it is his/her perogative, i.e. banging his head against a wall, and you need to respect his free will and intellectual independence from your morality. But if one is affecting other people in a way that you see as negative, it is your right to step in and say, 'look, I respect your intellectual independence, but you're acting in a way such that you are having a negative impact on your piers whether you notice or not.' Respect for individuality can only go so far in this case, some human moralities can be agreed on by all, and when those general moralities are being broken, it is an intelligent persons duty to bring others back to objectivity towards their own opinions. Getting drunk, in a contrived way, has a negative impact on the people of America. It supports the commercial mimicing of culture and how it devalues humanity and sociality and is one of many things in American 'culture' that needs to be stopped when striving towards the ultimate goal of intellectual independence of all people.
I just talked to someone who's 15 year old daughter is drinking, or she thinks that she may be, and asked me as a teenager for advice. Unfortunately I was not able to give her the kind of respose she may have been looking for; I gave her a much better and more intelligent one. I suggested that she present her daughter with an opportunity to be mature and present her with several points of view on alchohol, and let her decide for herself; and if she denies her opportunity in favor of the cultural comfort of listening to ones friends about what's right, then to punish her. It was an interesting conversation with a parent who's hands the shaping of a girls morality and sense of mental individuality are in. I don't know if this really pertains all that much, but it was too much of a similar conversation to this post to not be mentioned. It seems as if the best course of action is to present a friend with the opportunity to transcend these cultural staples and if he/she does not (and without good reason) stop the habit, then it would be time to disassociate oneself.
What would you concider "good reason"? (I guess personally speaking)
By good reason I mean an intellectually acceptable one; one that presents a sound and tenable argument and can be seen as well thought out to the point where you can be confident that it is independent of outside influence. If you can see that the argument was looked at from an intelligent standpoint, and not from the position of someone trying to get around the issue, and you can be confident that they believe in it, then it is your job to stick to your own word and respect their intellectual independence.
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