Showing posts with label Moral Dilemmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moral Dilemmas. Show all posts

October 2, 2017

From North Korean ICBMs to the Las Vegas Mass Shooter

What do North Korean ICBMs and the Las Vegas mass shooter have in common?

They both target the masses for the maximum fatality count.

North Korea was shown targeting a nuclear attack on major U.S. cities--including San Diego, Austin, Washington DC, and the islands of Hawaii. 

The Las Vegas shooter last night targeted a concert crowded with fans to let loose his automatic rifle killing at least 59 and wounding 527 in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

How about the Boston Marathon bomber that killed three and wounded 260 at the crowded finish line?  

We are living in dangerous, dangerous times. 

And being in a crowd can seriously get you killed. 

Honestly, does it take a genius or a madman to target a large gathering to inflict great pain on the enemy?

Honestly, who hasn't wondered why we don't target the terrorists groups and rogue terror nation states--whether Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Al-Qaeda or Axis of Evil Iran and North Korea--when their militants are violently rallying, burning the American flag, chanting death to the USA, and boldly and defiantly raising their assault rifles high into the air. 

Why do we prefer to go after onesies-twosies in a virtual never ending battle to try and stop the terrorists of the day before they hit our cities and people again, when instead we can take out the evil bunch in more or less one fell swoop and send a no nonsense deterrent message. 

Are we too moralistic to do it to them before they do it to us and we have hundreds of thousands or millions of dead?

I'm not suggesting hitting innocent civilians, but how about an armed, military parade with tanks and missiles or a bunch of crazed terrorists just building up their gumption to do their next dirty massacre against masses of innocent men, women, and children.

The bad guys aren't asking any questions before they hit the World Trade Center or the Pentagon or London or Paris or Tokyo or Jerusalem with guns, knives, bombs, vehicular attacks or even attempted WMD--maybe we shouldn't ask too many questions before we invoke "fire and fury" on their evil ranks and protect our own once and for all. ;-)

(Source Photo: here with attribution to JTF News)
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May 1, 2016

Pro Life OR Pro Choice

I took this photo going to the doctor last week.

This guy is standing outside the office building and he goes, "Did you know that there is an abortion clinic in there?"

Sort of stating the obvious as a guy, I said, "Well I'm not going there!"

It was fascinating though watching this guy picketing with his sign, "Pray To End Abortion."

And he's standing in front of some spiffy signs advertising Fendi and Gucci. 

Perhaps, he's not understanding where some people come from and what they go through getting pregnant either not by choice (rape, incest, etc.) or they are not ready to properly care for a child or there is a clear and present danger to the health of the mother. 

While late term abortions are completely anathema and in my mind really are murder, perhaps early term abortions, even if not a desired outcome by any means are at times a type of life-saving necessity for the reasons mentioned. 

Unfortunately, I really don't think it's a simple either/or.  

Yes, we must be pro life and protect the unborn children.

AND

Yes, we must have some element of pro choice and protect the mother and the child when it's birth would bring more harm than good. 

The decision needs to be made case-by-case and are excruciating to decide and do the right thing for all. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

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January 15, 2016

It's Not About The Regrets

So a teacher recently gave her students a scenario with the following moral dilemma:

An important and talented surgeon who has saved many lives in the past and will surely save many more in the future runs across an old man who has slipped and fallen under the cracking ice into a lake after trying unsuccessfully to save his puppy from drowning.  

The old man is trapped and will freeze to death in short order.

Should the surgeon walk across the breaking ice and risk his own life to try and save the old man?

The vast majority of students' responded...that the surgeon should try and save the old man.

When asked why they thought that, most said because otherwise he would feel guilty afterwards. 

Thinking about that it seems like a funny reason to do something dangerous, heroic, and maybe utterly stupid...so as not to feel guilty. 

I guess that I would've thought people who would advocate for trying to save the old man would say something like

- Every life is valuable!
- Saving one person is like saving the world.
- Helping people even at our own risk or peril is what we do for our fellow human beings.
- We would want others to help us if we were in trouble, so we should do that for them. 

While we can't judge someone else for how they react in situations of genuine moral conflict, we can teach the younger generation that doing something good for others is about more than just not feeling bad or guilty afterwards (for being lazy, selfish, or making the wrong call in the situation).

Making moral judgements is about choosing in every situation to try your best to do what's right, help people, be a good influence, take responsibility, and generally act selflessly, but not recklessly. 

Regret stinks (and can be truly painful), but missing opportunities to live a good, meaningful life is much worse. ;-)

(Source Photo: The Blumenthals)
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