Morals on the line ...
What the hell is going on with morals ?
I may be falsely presuming that the majority of the society suffers from an ethical and moral crisis.
Coexisting in a society is becoming more and more competitive, an eye for an eye, my well-being against everyone else’s, which means that people will go beyond some borders in order to accomplish their goals.
That is called Machiavellianism ..
"The degree to which an individual believes that the ends justify the means and behave in a manner which aims increasing their level of power through manipulation."
In my humble opinion Machiavellianism has increased all over the world since the economic downfall of 2010.
And yes the situation in Africa and other under developed countries is unfortunately still unjust and complicated.
By all means people due to many difficulties in everyday living, such as finding food, having shelter or being unemployed, find it hard to focus on the greater good.
To be honest till a certain point it makes sense. By having a look at the Maslow’s Needs Pyramid we can see that the fundamental needs of a human being concern the biological needs like hunger, hygiene and a place to sleep.
Afterwards finding a job, having good health and good relationships.
Ethics come in the Self Esteem Needs, pretty high in the pyramid and the only way to reach Self Actualization.
One may even steal or kill, because that’s the only possible way to survive, while the modern child in America or Europa tends to be obese and the African child is starving to death the very same moment.
But in this case is theft evil?
Murder certainly is because it ends all decision making either good or evil, right?
But the death penalty is favored in some scenarios also, right?
The truth is that: “Man is the measure of all things “ (Protagoras, Greek philosopher)
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The only creature using logic, having laws and trying to tame its animal instincts via morality and civilization.
The overall growth and prosperity of the community though promotes also every single individual’s status of living. But the overall growth of the community requires that people work together for the greater good and people rarely prefer such long term strategy in comparison with some short term reward, at least in my country, Greece.
Okay, look at Germany, started 2 world wars and made extreme collateral damage around the globe , but the same nation picked up its pieces worked together as a team and is still today one of the strongest economies in the world.
To make matters short all of the above assumptions are driven by capitalism.
Capitalism is both a blessing and a curse in my opinion, depending on which country you were born.
That’s pure luck isn’t it?
Yeah it is, but people as long as they are alive, they strive to fight for their best personal interest.
It’s a matter of survival instincts.
As Friedman implies "Capitalism only works if there are safety nets to deal with people who are left behind and are getting naturally brutalized by it".
That’s why migration is a serious option and a good bet nowadays .
Migrating saves people from terrible wars and certain death in middle-east, while offers better job chances and meritocracy to everyone in the European Union, the United States of America and some other economic-rich places in the world like Australia, Dubai etc.
The sad part is that migrating is easier than changing the whole mindset and philosophy of a nation while of course the latter requires possibly also more than a man’s lifetime. Maybe three or more generations with different values.
The best young scientists and professionals around the world prefer to seek a better future in a strong nation like for example Switzerland, Germany or Canada.
This way strong countries become even stronger, while maintaining more and more elite and hard-working human resources than others.
Money goes to money right?
But wasn’t that capitalism… an ever ending circle that triggers the control of the masses…
So is it easy to maintain strong ethics, when it’s all a matter of business for the interest of big markets?
Excellent writing @zangmore
I believe we are all worried about our well-being but sometimes we forget that we are able to help other people.
For one to be altruist it's not necessary to be rich. With one simple action, you can change your life and the ones you're helping.
Greetings.
Thank you very much @felobtc .
Yes i agree with you on altruism, maybe in my post i have analyzed thoroughly the economic scope of this matter. Capitalism vs community ethics. The individual longs for short term reward and justifies the means in order to get this reward. Being manipulative and Machiavellian is totally against the interest of "we".
Nice blog! well written !
I upvoted you and I hope you would upvote and Follow @xeelan0 too !
Alright mate thanks for the support, i followed you :)
I want to thank you for your post, which definitely orovides food for thought. One question: is there a reference that identifies ethics as only coming into Maslow's heirachy of needs at "Esteem" ? It would appear to me that ethics would play a large role in love or even in safety - it may only be that when a person's physiological needs are compromised that ethics lose influence...
I will be reading this again - good work!
Thanks for your kind words i hope for more conversations like this...
Motivating ideas... food for thought :)
Very good post @zangmore!! Well writing!! Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks you @evimeria i think it's good writing!!
Πολύ καλή δουλεία ! ! Μπράβο σου ! ! :)
Ευχαριστώ Δημητρά , χαίρομαι που σάρεσε !!
This is a very deep subject and there will always be multiple opinions about it and unfortunately many conflicts on it (the need of human beings to be right).
In my humble opinion there is a problem (lack) of leaders in our society in all levels... Starting from governments, going to school and corporations, almost all of the have them machiavellian approach you describe above.
I believe that change can only happen one person at a time... We need to make sure that we are ethical and we have morals in a world that does not. And eventually we will hit the critical mass needed to make the change... I believe in humanity :)
You wrote a very good article, with very interesting ideas and approach. Well done! :)
Maybe it all starts with education and our inability to manage all this barrage of information from the internet and the social media at a young age..