Sunday, January 30, 2005
If a man rolls up to you in a wheelchair... is that not murder?!
That little quote is from our illustrious friend, T.J. Peterson. He happened to be drinking at the time, if you cuoldn't already guess that. What I believe he meant to imply was... if you refuse to help a homeless man and he dies, have you committed a crime?
It's a well-intention sentiment, but I believe that the answer is a resounding no. In fact, I believe crimes of omission are not crimes at all. What got me thinking about this was that a University of Colorado professor wrote an essay saying that the victims of 9/11 deserved to die because they were part of the American system. Now I'm no big fan of American policies, and I'm usually pretty open to crazy opinions, even if they're as crude as this. But there's no way you can argue that being part of a society that does bad things makes you accountable.
There's that famous quote- "You're either part of the solution, or you're part of the problem" by a Black Panther activist during the civil rights movement. Well, it's not that simple. There are too many problems out there. Just because you turn a blind eye to most of the millions of problems out there doesn't mean you're complicit in them. Half the country didn't vote for Bush, but he's doing things in the name of America anyway. Of course, I know no one is taking this essay seriously, but in the larger sense, many people do believe that all Americans are part of the problem, or that all Muslims are part of the problem, or like Marmar implies, our very value systems are part of the problem.
What I'd want to ask this professor is, has he never bought an American made product? Does he buy gasoline? Does he own material? Are there people out there who he could help by giving away his tenured salary? The answer is yes. There are always people in need more than yourself, like the hypothetical man in the wheelchair. Just because you didn't give him any money doesn't mean you killed him. What about the thousands of people dying from diseases around the world? Did you donate to their relief funds? Are you toiling away every day trying to make everyone's life better and not making anyone's life worse? Even if you're an activist, you're just ignoring all the other issues and focusing on the one you feel is important. But is it really the one that is maximizing the amount of good in the world? Do they really believe that the worst problem in the world is drunk driving, or breast cancer, or juvenile diabetes? Well, maybe, but the point is that everyone prioritizes differently, and those who are fighting AIDS can't (or at least shouldn't) be accused of not doing enough to fight poverty in Africa.
Obviously there are times when this is true. Standing idly by while genocide happens and saying that someone else performed the act IS being complicit in the act. But there's a fundamental divide in something that is plainly obvious, direct, and has a clear solution in front of you, and something like a much larger global or even societal problem. And sometimes there may even be no clear solution (Even if you had been a citizen in Nazi Germany, could you have stopped it?) OK, perhaps you can absolve yourself of this by protesting against the problem, but there are too many problems. If I were to protest all that were wrong with the world, I'd have to remove myself from it.
What it comes down to is simple self-interest. We're just animals and we're trying to make our lives livable with the finite time that we have. Hopefully with all the communal outrage, we'll at least have someone protesting everything wrong in the world. And then we can say we are part of the solution. Or pretend to.
It's a well-intention sentiment, but I believe that the answer is a resounding no. In fact, I believe crimes of omission are not crimes at all. What got me thinking about this was that a University of Colorado professor wrote an essay saying that the victims of 9/11 deserved to die because they were part of the American system. Now I'm no big fan of American policies, and I'm usually pretty open to crazy opinions, even if they're as crude as this. But there's no way you can argue that being part of a society that does bad things makes you accountable.
There's that famous quote- "You're either part of the solution, or you're part of the problem" by a Black Panther activist during the civil rights movement. Well, it's not that simple. There are too many problems out there. Just because you turn a blind eye to most of the millions of problems out there doesn't mean you're complicit in them. Half the country didn't vote for Bush, but he's doing things in the name of America anyway. Of course, I know no one is taking this essay seriously, but in the larger sense, many people do believe that all Americans are part of the problem, or that all Muslims are part of the problem, or like Marmar implies, our very value systems are part of the problem.
What I'd want to ask this professor is, has he never bought an American made product? Does he buy gasoline? Does he own material? Are there people out there who he could help by giving away his tenured salary? The answer is yes. There are always people in need more than yourself, like the hypothetical man in the wheelchair. Just because you didn't give him any money doesn't mean you killed him. What about the thousands of people dying from diseases around the world? Did you donate to their relief funds? Are you toiling away every day trying to make everyone's life better and not making anyone's life worse? Even if you're an activist, you're just ignoring all the other issues and focusing on the one you feel is important. But is it really the one that is maximizing the amount of good in the world? Do they really believe that the worst problem in the world is drunk driving, or breast cancer, or juvenile diabetes? Well, maybe, but the point is that everyone prioritizes differently, and those who are fighting AIDS can't (or at least shouldn't) be accused of not doing enough to fight poverty in Africa.
Obviously there are times when this is true. Standing idly by while genocide happens and saying that someone else performed the act IS being complicit in the act. But there's a fundamental divide in something that is plainly obvious, direct, and has a clear solution in front of you, and something like a much larger global or even societal problem. And sometimes there may even be no clear solution (Even if you had been a citizen in Nazi Germany, could you have stopped it?) OK, perhaps you can absolve yourself of this by protesting against the problem, but there are too many problems. If I were to protest all that were wrong with the world, I'd have to remove myself from it.
What it comes down to is simple self-interest. We're just animals and we're trying to make our lives livable with the finite time that we have. Hopefully with all the communal outrage, we'll at least have someone protesting everything wrong in the world. And then we can say we are part of the solution. Or pretend to.
# posted by Stuart @ 5:54 PM 
