Dear Friends,
It seems amazing to me that, as a great Chinese philosopher (Mo Ti) once said, “This is something that confuses us… Take the case of a man who when shown a few black objects calls them black, but when he is shown a large number of black objects calls them white. He would have to admit his eyesight was in disorder and that he did not know the difference between black and white.” The “objects” he referred to were evils in the World. A few evils committed by a few men are obviously evil. But many evils done by many appear, (or are called) good. This philosophical distinction has implications in our daily lives and in the way our respective government’s assemble into political organizations.
When we see a person rob a store we say that is a bad thing. But we don’t examine the question further. Why is it a bad thing? Because the clerk could have been hurt? Because property was taken by someone other than the rightful owner? Because the environment is harmed by the burning of gunpowder? Or maybe because all these things amount to the same thing… that the good ordering of society is upset.
But when politicians cheat on their taxes or enact laws and regulations that benefit their political faction at the cost to society as a whole, people laugh it off. When confronted with the reality that a new regulation put in place for no purpose other than to protect a bureaucrat’s job will result in the ruination of someone they will laugh. Take another example that of war. How many people have been saved by NATO attacking in Libya? None. A grinding war takes a huge toll on the people and their welfare in a country. The destruction of infrastructure will result in hunger, disease, and poverty. The toll on the population doesn’t end there however.
People are the tinder of war. Human beings are consumed in the furnace of war. It is powered thusly. Therefore war should be taken seriously. Only engaged when the material welfare of a countries people is directly threatened. Because war is a large number of black objects and it is the definition of upsetting the orderly functioning of society, it is a bad (black) object that is often called good.
What about when a small faction believes it has the moral authority to demand others relinquish their personal right of self determination? Or that others relinquish their personal property. For such dubious reasons as protecting the Earth form Mankind. There is no bridge some of these people will not cross then turn and burn behind them to get their way. I have experience with people of this kind. They cannot be reasoned with or compromised with. There is no action they will not take to meet their ends. But they are portrayed as heroes in the unbiased press.
The example of abortion is glaring. Here we have the producers of modern culture claiming that abortion in the aggregate is good. To do so requires a change of rhetoric and abortion is deemed freedom of choice. The irony of people who despise other people’s right of self determination to claim to protect a freedom of choice is lost on most people today. But won’t be in the future. No one who witnessed an abortion would call it a good and righteous act. But veiled under a new name and it is a large number of black objects that are called white.
To what end are large numbers of bad things called good? Do you suppose it is for good ends? Is it in your experience that good things come of bad actions? Pile bad upon bad and will the result be good? I personally don’t think so. But the unbiased media and others, that create modern culture disagree with me, and now (hopefully) you.
