Law in Contemporary Society

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DoingWrongByNotDoing 9 - 01 Apr 2010 - Main.EricaSelig
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 I keep thinking back to something Eben brought up in class last week (Tuesday)- namely, the idea that if you see a problem, or something that you don’t think is OK, you should be doing something about it. I think Eben’s comments resonated with me because they struck a chord with a sort of guilty feeling I’ve often had. The guilt doesn’t come from actively doing anything wrong, but from not actively doing anything that seems particularly right. I’ve often felt uncomfortable with the idea that my life could be considered a moral life when I don’t really think I do anything to correct problems that I see around me. I think the issue boils down to a question of inaction as a morally culpable offense. I do think there is a moral imperative to act when we see something that we think is wrong. I think this idea leads to guilt because I don’t think that I do enough to act, and it’s something that I hope to change if I can figure out how. It made me start thinking about ideas that I’ve struggled with before- for instance, what difference is there between letting someone die before your eyes and not giving them (for example’s sake) the five dollars in your pocket that could save them by buying them food, and not sending food or support somewhere when you can spare it and where it could have a similar lifesaving impact? When does not doing something become as wrong as doing something positively wrong? It’s hard for me to figure out the difference- maybe this is because there isn’t a meaningful one.

I’m wondering what other people think about this. If a person sees something wrong in the world and doesn’t do anything about it, is he or she more culpable than someone who simply doesn’t see the wrong, by choice or by chance? It sort of reminds me also of the philosophical question- is a person brave who isn’t scared in the face of danger, or is a person truly brave who is scared and proceeds anyway? I can’t really articulate how these are connected, but I think it has something to do with making active choices and being aware of situations and choosing to overcome them (as opposed to not facing those choices whatsoever).

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 Hm I might not have been phrasing my main point clearly enough - I definitely recognize Eben's emphasis on this "micro level" change. It came up again (abstractly) in our discussion about the Mignionette, when he pressed us to drop all the moralizing and think about how we would try this case, where the crime was, if anywhere. This emphasis on case-by-case decision making and on thinking before each and every decision is nothing if not good works on the smallest level. What I was saying was merely that it took about three weeks of Eben's class before I understood the difference between working for the big picture Good, and doing good every day, in every decision. And I am glad that distinction has been made, because I think it is a critical one, and not necessarily one encouraged in college, or here by those running public interest programs.
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>		AerinMiller
 

@Aerin

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 It was never actually confirmed that the dog starved in the studio and various reports suggests it was released or escaped the next day, shortly after they had taken the photos required to cause the uproar. I'll admit that I was relieved to hear the dog probably starved in the streets instead of in the studio.

-- DanKarmel - 31 Mar 2010

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>		@ Dan

I don’t understand the significance of your distinction between housing rights on the one hand and labor rights and sustainability issues on the other. If anything, we should be more concerned about local issues, because we have more control over them. “Think globally, act locally,” right? Besides abstaining from purchasing “blood diamonds” or non-fair trade food, there really isn’t a lot most of us can do about these particular systemic problems. On the other hand, we, as a community, could be kinder and more generous to each other. I spent my spring break in San Francisco, and the culture that exists there really embraces the homeless community. From what I gathered, they were by and large treated with respect and dignity and weren’t isolated to the extent that I think many are on the east coast.

Re. your DC friend, the problem isn’t that homeless people don’t want to be in shelters per se. There simply isn’t enough room, to speak nothing of sanitation: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031104330.html Also, I’m curious to know the reaction of those people who took (or perhaps threw back?) your friends card!

-- EricaSelig - 31 Mar 2010


Revision 9r9 - 01 Apr 2010 - 22:21:59 - EricaSelig
Revision 8r8 - 01 Apr 2010 - 03:18:44 - DanKarmel
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