You know, sometimes I post some serious stuff. I like pointing out when the emperor isn't wearing any clothes.
Inevitably, someone yells 'troll' or 'whiner' and demands I give them the answers that will magically fix everything, or I should shut the fuck up.
Well, here's my answer. By no means do I think it is the ONLY thing that needs doing, but it's a damned good start.
I really and truly believe we need to make ethics classes mandatory. Mandatory from preschool all the way through to high school graduation.
When I set out to write this piece I went looking for a really good definition that distinguished (for me) the difference between ethics and morals. I found it.
...morals are how you treat people you know. Ethics are how you treat people you don’t know.
We need to start instilling ethics into our children. It's the first and most powerful step in getting rid of all the -isms--racism, sexism, ageism, ableism...all of it.
When you’re a politicians or a CEO, most of what you do will effect people you don’t know, people you can’t know, people who are just statistics to you. You have no personal connection to them, and you never will. This is at the heart of Stalin’s comment that “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.” Change the welfare rules, people will live or die, suffer or prosper. Change the tax structure, healthcare mandates, trade laws, transit spending—virtually everything you do means someone will will, and someone will lose. Sometimes fatally.
We've given morality 200+ years and it's been a miserable failure. We have to change gears if we want to survive as a society. We have to stop letting our children believe that the marginalization of people is just collateral damage, and that the marginalized should just suck it up and deal.
When we start teaching our children to treat those they don't know as well as they treat those they do, we'll all be better off.
Inevitably, someone yells 'troll' or 'whiner' and demands I give them the answers that will magically fix everything, or I should shut the fuck up.
Well, here's my answer. By no means do I think it is the ONLY thing that needs doing, but it's a damned good start.
I really and truly believe we need to make ethics classes mandatory. Mandatory from preschool all the way through to high school graduation.
When I set out to write this piece I went looking for a really good definition that distinguished (for me) the difference between ethics and morals. I found it.
...morals are how you treat people you know. Ethics are how you treat people you don’t know.
We need to start instilling ethics into our children. It's the first and most powerful step in getting rid of all the -isms--racism, sexism, ageism, ableism...all of it.
When you’re a politicians or a CEO, most of what you do will effect people you don’t know, people you can’t know, people who are just statistics to you. You have no personal connection to them, and you never will. This is at the heart of Stalin’s comment that “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.” Change the welfare rules, people will live or die, suffer or prosper. Change the tax structure, healthcare mandates, trade laws, transit spending—virtually everything you do means someone will will, and someone will lose. Sometimes fatally.
We've given morality 200+ years and it's been a miserable failure. We have to change gears if we want to survive as a society. We have to stop letting our children believe that the marginalization of people is just collateral damage, and that the marginalized should just suck it up and deal.
When we start teaching our children to treat those they don't know as well as they treat those they do, we'll all be better off.
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