Morality, something seen as a virtue. A conscious inclination to ones own conduct. Most in America would say that morality is dictated by an objective source that one cannot change nor live without the precept of morality. The esteemed invariability that most hold to an external, objective morality is based on the assumption of basic straw man arguments.
To dispute the claims of morality being an objective, invariable source of human ethics, I will pose the question of why is slavery bad? We hold the idea today that slavery is immoral. Then why not less than 200 years ago was slavery a common occurrence and deemed acceptable? I have one undeniable fact, society. Society changes and ever shifts, we are told what is and what is not. What is good and what is bad. What is to be seen and what is not to be seen.
Society is a distinctive part of the human species. We are a communicating, collaborating, or just plainly social creatures. We strive and live together to have a better chance at survival. With this configuration of society their at some point comes a hierarchy. People in charge, people who delegate and conform the group into a compatible community. With this comes rules, laws and social structure. How do we dictate these social structures? Dawkins would explain it as a Darwinian principle, quite simply that the structure of the human species is to adapt to a point of a “higher” calling. You don’t kill your neighbor because it is bad for a society to exist that deems murder as acceptable.
However, with Dawkins stark approach it is to altruistic. People by very nature are selfish, I care about what I want often, and think of what someone else wants seldom. It is only natural to act in this manner, it’s called your survival instinct or as Freud would put it you Id which desires for immediate gratification. So we develop a line, to empower our self’s above such a cave man mentality. We have given this line the name of morality. Killing is wrong because it is immoral. However where did these morals come from? As stated above from society. Churches, politicians, media, parents and friends who partake in this extravagant mirage of media and religion.
Morality is the Crux of power, what a powerful statement, let me explain. Timothy McVeigh, after Waco and Ruby Ridge was upset with the government and bombed the Oklahoma city building. McVeigh who acted on pure secular reason believed that the government was out of bounds, and believed strongly in his oath of defending the country against enemies foreign and domestic and saw the government as the enemy immoral and corrupt. The government acting on purely secular reason attacked Waco and Ruby Ridge, why? Because they were under the impression and spewed the impression that these people were immoral and the masses followed. Now McVeigh was raised that killing was wrong, and attended Church, however joined the military and learned that killing was “ok” if it was for a good cause and even justifiable as long as it was for God and Country. McVeigh merely turned the same moral principles that he was taught through life against the very society that dictated his moral conduct.
Here is my view, morality is absurd. Morality is only for the powerful to decide and for you to be subservient to. Morality allows for wars to be fought, for people to be acceptable of killing people whom they know nothing about. It allows people to be bigots for no other reason than to be bigots, and to deny others love and happiness because they deem them immoral. Rabbis do not eat pork, why? Because it is immoral to do so. From what source? a book! Pork is actually very good however they choose not to partake of its goodness for the principle of morality. Even animals by definition have morality, but one thing animals do not have is empathy. The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes is a characteristic of the human kind. It is selfish and altruistic at the same time. You do not kill others for you do not want to be killed. You help other because you would want someone to do the same for you. You do not hate others for their skin color or sexual preference because you do not want to be judged on what you choose to be or love.
Embrace empathy, for empathy will not start senseless wars and bigotry and hatred. empathy frees people form cynicism. Do not let morality dictate what you believe but empathy, because power is guarded by morality.
Related articles
- On Conscience & the Errors of Moral Relativism (peshawarnights.wordpress.com)
- Will Right and Wrong Always Be Obvious? (str.typepad.com)
- The Limits of Empathy (psychologytoday.com)
- The Crucifixion of Morality: Does Morality Need Faith? (gammaatheist.com)
- Did religion help give primitive civilisation certain moral values? (secularnewsdaily.com)
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