Moral Flexibility

I have a certain moral flexibility that allows me to do some things that others might have a qualm about.

Nothing really serious like putting some murdering scumbag to death and saving our hard earned tax dollars, but if there was a better than 50% chance of getting away undetected I would go for it. Louise has often said that mankind is not a rational being, but a rationalizing being. I am pretty sure that given enough time and effort I could give myself a reasonable excuse for anything.

The strange thing is that this doesn’t apply to road rules. Here I draw the line! These aren’t ambiguous at all; they are written down and published for all to see in a “Drivers Handbook”. People can get away with “bending” the rules because the cops are more interested in chasing gang members and getting the big bust. I would be willing to be deputized as a traffic “enforcer”. I would use the tazer and toast these miscreants like so many marshmallows. They would make an illegal U turn just once before their testicles would be shrivelled like raisins. I guess this attitude is why I will never be deputized.

There is a real problem is with people stealing music these days. Personally, I don’t think that Paul McCartney or Elton John have enough money. There are some however that think half a billion dollars is pretty good compensation for a life of rock sacrifice. A lifetime of travel, women, drugs, limos, fame, knighthoods, mansions and all of the trappings of fortune is what these poor souls have to deal with on a daily basis. To have to put up with a minimum wage earner stealing the products of their God given genius is just too much to bear.  I just can’t condone this behaviour.

Me? Well, I will often “back up” music for the library. You just never know when there will be a flood, fire, theft or other natural disaster will destroy all of the music in the library. I will then be able to have saved the library’s collection of music. No, I am not looking to be praised; I just do this as a public service if you will. If there had been someone like me living in Alexandria back in 48 BC there would still be a library there, or at least music.

We all know what is right and what is wrong, even when we justify our actions for this particular situation. Should we or even could we live this way? I don’t know, but I do try. What is that saying? “To err is human; to catch someone erring is a tabloid headline.”