Pandemic, Protests, and Moral Imperatives
I was having a conversation with someone who worked as a therapist and this led me to a surprising realization about how to explain my own belief system. The therapist described a patient who was born in a military family and is gay. The patient described how terrible it was growing up in a household that held traditional values in a place that lacked acceptance. When I lived in West Virginia, folks were fond of saying “Common sense is not common.” The patient born into this situation made a statement that seems obvious and yet may come as a surprise to some—“Why would I possibly choose to be gay given my circumstances?”
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I grew up in a Jewish household, but I am an atheist. I simply am not able to believe. Consider this in relation to the statement above about choice. We live in a nation of predominantly believers; it is a far easier path to be a believer. I often struggle to convey this to others. I did not set out to choose the harder path. And yes, I believe it is more difficult not to believe. You have to invent your moral and ethical scaffolding from the foundation. The parameters set by religious doctrine offer fixed rules and sensibilities. This is right, this is wrong. This is acceptable, this is unacceptable. This is how you do this, this is not how you do that. There are gray areas because there are always gray areas. The point is that religious institutions provide the basic structure. A higher power gives you a direct line of hope by way of faith. As a non-believer, I have to put my faith in humanity. I am simply another animal. I am always at square one.
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I am a vegetarian. Why do I continue to be a vegetarian? Why am I not vegan? This is complicated. I’m not going to start at the beginning. I’m going to look at today. Slaughterhouses do not have glass windows now, however, we have a better idea of what is going on inside. Those who eat meat probably know more than they want to know about animal agriculture. We all know that saying about making sausage. I like to say I remain vegetarian and not vegan because I’m waiting for the rest of humanity to meet me halfway. As food for thought, do a web search on what would happen if everyone decided to observe Meatless Monday.
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It’s true, people hate Peter Singer. I brought up one of his thought experiments yesterday and the debate ended with me kowtowing to a speciesist position. That is, in most scenarios, it is going to be an uphill battle to persuade a human to save anything other than another human over any number of suffering non-human animals.
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Circumstantially, I identify as disabled. I do not do this in all instances. I have a number of mental health issues that, at times, prevent me from functioning exceptionally well. Peter Singer would put me in a lower order of those deserving of life-saving measures in certain situations. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, if you had to choose between saving me and someone who, through a series of calculations you determined was a more useful individual in society and had the prospect of adding more to society in the future, you would be ethically obliged to give preferential treatment to save that person first. This is not about anyone deserving anything. None of us deserve anything. On the contrary, the bar should be set even. In reality, as well we know, it is not. That does not change the ethical imperative to make the best possible moral decision. Do the most good, do the least harm.
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All of the above is, in part, a disclaimer for me suggesting (with hopefully an adequate trigger warning) that you consider listening to an episode of Hidden Brain in which Shankar Vedantam converses with Peter Singer on challenging topics.
These episodes come to us amid the COVID-19 pandemic while protests continue over the horrific murder of George Floyd and injustices to minorities that go back to America’s original sin.
Hidden Brain: Justifying The Means: What It Means ToTreat All Suffering Equally
I’d also encourage you to listen this episode of CodeSwitch: A Decade Of Watching Black People Die
I hope we, as a society, find ourselves in better circumstances in the not so distant future.