what's the frequency kenneth?
I’ve been thinking a bit about ethics after two separate incidents.
The first was a woman at a conference I recently attended, who posed the question:
“is it ethical to plant a rose?”
as a means of generating discussion about what kind of country we want to live in.
Secondly, Chesty LaRue’s post on whether or not it is scabby to pick up change from a train platform got me to thinking about whether picking it up (or not) was part of a greater moral code, or merely related to etiquette.
Ah ethics. It is a vexatious topic, isn’t it? Everyone struggles with the individual impacts of various activities, but it is possible that sometimes we don’t think about the everyday things which may or not be ethical, depending on your viewpoint and the level to which you are prepared to live a life you consider “ethical”.
Similarly, you can take ethics to a logical conclusion that makes other people uncomfortable – is that ethical?
So I’ve been wondering….is it ethical –
1. to own a cat?
2. for that matter, to own any pets at all?
3. to grow flowers rather than food?
4. to buy and consume chocolate when the chocolate industry perpetuates third world poverty?
5. to spend more money on a mobile phone bill each year than you give to charity?
6. to only undertake volunteer work that is “fun”?
7. to buy your kids branded toys?
8. to buy your kids branded anything?
9. to BUY anything, particularly if you don’t strictly need it (my semi-new knee high boots come to mind)?
10. to conscientiously recycle when you know that the recycling goes straight into the tip?
11. to tell people to f-ck off when they lecture you about your overseas-travel related carbon foot-print while they maintain three investment properties?
Suspect the last one isn't polite, if not strictly unethical. But if I carbon-trade and only go overseas every now and again, should my friends' first response to the news that I am contemplating a trip to South East Asia really be "tsk tsk tsk dude what about the environment"?
posted by gigglewick at
5:48 pm
8 Comments:
Aaaah! Ethics!
Like a refreshing dip in a polluted swamp.
I can never take any sincerely held belief to it's logical conclusion. I seem to lurk in the moral ambiguities of living.
On the one hand, I try to be as good as I can be. On the other hand, it's never good enough.
My answers, having pondered on them (and other things) during a sleepless night... yeah, thanks for that GW.
1. no, probably not.
2. only if said pets are feral rabbits that have been rescued from grisly death-by-cat, and cannot be released back into the wild because they're feral. But cute.
3. pfft. flowers are the food of love and imagination and indeed the apples of various eyes. Plus they're pretty.
4. only if it's fairtrade. It's yummy and smug-inducing.
5. er...
6. errr....
7. Probably not.
8. Globalism sux etc etc
9. Can you buy hairshirts?
10. Really? *feels all dejected*
11. Completely and utterly ethical and right. Especially if accompanied by a good slap.
ahh ethics...
i try to be good! i don't buy l'oreal products because they test on animals, i don't buy nike, coke and other brands because they're blood-sucking evil corporations, i recycle... but if i extrapolate about the life i DO lead - i wonder if it's ever possible to know if i'm doing all the right things. it simply isn't. i don't spend much and although i don't buy brands, my unbranded tuna is probably causing havoc for dolphins and my bi-lo/you'll love coles tea bags are not from a single estate, and probably rip a lot of tea growers in india and china off. i am a multiple lapsed vegetarian, if you'll pardon the dodgy syntax. i always end up anaemic. i have to drive to work because there's no train station within cooee of work. sigh.
it's too too hard to be perfect. we're too removed from the chain of production to know what we're really giving our money to.
great post.
Meva,
Yes. That's pretty much where I am too.
Actonb
* frowns *
It wasn't meant to be sleeplessness-inducing!
Also you probably can't buy hairshirts, but I think you'll agree that MY hair (made into a shirt) would make a lovely accessory.
Susanna,
Why thank you. It is hard, isn't it? I used not to buy Nestle because I hated their evil ways, but now it seems everything is owned by them. I haven't eaten McDonalds since 1991 as a measure of environmental activism, but I spend a lot of time with my eyebrows (yes, those eyebrows, AB) knit in exasperation about whether or not my purchasing (in particular) is ethical.
No more cats after the current lot shuffle off, but will that make any kind of difference????
I don't actually like branded stuff but I can only imagine what it would be like to even attempt to avoid buying my kids branded anything.
Also, whilst I have never illegally dowloaded music in my life, is it unethical if I already paid for the song on tape but I can;t figure out how to transfer it to my ipod?
INCraig,
I don't mind it. At least, not as much as I used to. I hate it for myself.
re your second question....I suspect no. Depends on who it is.
Tis the quandry, isn't it? I ponder on many a thing alikes to the issues you raised. Frig, I even tear out the plastic windows on envelopes before I put the paper bit in the recycling - even though I know, really, that's it not going to make a frug of difference. Yet, I will continue to rip away at those pesky plastic bits. And shoe buying, God don't get me started on that little cancer in my conscience. I take comfort that others, like you gw, are equally as conflicted.
To INCraig, do you have one of those older stereos that has a tape deck and a cd player? Or access to one? Put a blank cd in the player, put your tape in the deck, press the play button on the tape deck and play/record simultaneously on the cd. This will record your tape to cd, which can then be imported to i-tunes in your computer, then onto your i-pod. For best volume results, plug in headphones to the stereo and turn the volume to full. It will sound funny (a bit distorted) coming through the headphones(do NOT put these in your ears)but the final sound on cd/i-pod will be good.
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