For my moral philosophy class, we have to write an essay on morality (go figure). It's on the movie
Crimes and Misdemeanors, and we have been challenged to decide whether the main character, Judah, behaves in a moral way or not. (For those of you who haven't seen the movie, the main character Judah hires a hit-man to kill his mistress to cover up the affair and the knowledge she has of his embezzlement of money in his company, and is never caught for the act. The murder is instead pinned on a homeless man who was arrested for other break-ins and subsequent murders in the area. After all, "what's one more murder on his record?"). Furthermore, we must also decide if he is a moral
person. It's a challenging subject, not because I don't know what I think about the subject, but because I don't know how to articulate it in an academically acceptable way (especially on this campus).
As a Christian, my view of morality, of right and wrong, is entirely dependent on God. It wasn't always that way - I used to be a moral relativist (if you're interested, see some of my oldest posts...). I still occasionally find myself sympathizing with relativism and the ideas associated with it, especially when I'm confronted with a situation like this one. I believe firmly, with every ounce of my heart and soul and head, that God exists. I believe that there is an absolute moral right and wrong. But I don't know how to academically, philosophically prove that. So I'm stuck in this conundrum - I believe what I believe, but on a philosophical level I have no idea how to prove it.
In the process of trying to decide how to appropriately articulate myself, I decided to take a little brain-break, and watch some TV. I've heard from a few people recently about this TV show (sort of set up like Candid Camera, if anybody remembers that show), called "What Would You Do?". It basically sets up awkward situations in real life with hidden cameras and actors, to examine how people react. Some of their set-ups include a waiter harassing a gay couple with children, a racist store manager asking a black woman to leave an up-scale NYC store because she "can't trust people like [her]", and placing a (fake) baby inside a closed up car on a hot summer day on the street with a recording of crying noises. They set up hidden cameras to view the situation, and afterward often talk to people about why they reacted (or didn't react) the way they did.
It occurred to me while watching this that people who stand up for the "right thing" are often angry and upset during a confrontation, and relieved when they discover that it's actually a set-up. On the other hand, the people who don't react (but who noticed the situation) are almost always ashamed, apologetic, and make "politically correct" excuses. It occurs to me that even with touchy subjects such as racism and gay couples, most people are simply afraid of standing up for what they
know is the right thing. Some people even flip-flopped on the subjects - when talking to other customers or the people who are perpetuating these acts, they agree (or at the very least acquiesce) to their point of view. But as soon as they find out it's a set up, they immediately correct their position and proclaim how wrong it is.
All this brings me to think that somewhere, deep down, everybody knows what is right and wrong. Everybody knows, even beyond cultural norms, but to the depths of humanity what is right and wrong.
So now I think I'll re-approach my essay with this in mind. With a sense of community in mind, as well as the understanding that I can, just maybe, articulate the depth of my convictions given the right tools and mindset.
