Why Are People So Unethical

Everything is a tradeoff

“To make ethical choices you cannot have dilemmas between the particular (friends, family) and the general.” (Taleb, 115)

This is why Catholic priests are meant to be celibate. With no family, you never need to decide between favoring your family or favoring the collective (church, its members, and humanity).

Why Aren’t There More Whistleblowers

A whistleblower is rarely the first person to find out about a problem. They’re just the first person willing to risk the pushback. And were the pushback just a smear campaign against the employee, more people might be whistleblowers. But the effect of the smear campaign is the problem. How does it affect the whistleblower’s family?

The whistleblower knows they will be fired. They know the smear campaign will make it very hard to find another job. That means less presents under the Christmas tree. It means less food in the fridge. It might even take college out of the equation.

The whistleblower’s put in a position to pick between the particular (their family) and the collective (the general public). Can you blame more people for not standing up? They have a family to take care of.

Is it unethical to let your company spray illegal chemicals on agricultural products? Is it unethical to let your company commit racist, anti-semitic or otherwise hateful actions? What if I told you that speaking out would put your family in danger?

Ethics isn’t so black and white. It’s easy to judge someone on the news. But everyone has a family. Everyone is trading collective and personal in each action they make. It’s not an excuse. It’s just reality.

Ethics is hard. Family is hard. Being good is hard.

It’s your job to do what you feel is necessary and live with the consequences.

Question of The Day

What’s you standard of ethics? When would you stand for the collective over the personal? How bad would it have to be?

Have a fantastic Saturday. Tell someone in your family you love them!

Your Friend,

Noah BigNerd Sochaczevski