Dear Friends,
It seems to me, people without ethics are parasites to civilization. Civilization runs on ethics, without them what you have is barbarism. Not the common run of barbarism either but the total breakdown of order barbarism. Ethics then could be considered the blood of the corpus civilization. Those without ethics drink from that blood copiously and can continue to do so until they are discovered. Then, like a tick, they are removed and have to find a different group of people to parasitize. This is why parasitism is such an effective strategy. It is a low energy path to sustenance. One problem with this strategy is that if everyone becomes a parasite there will be no blood left and the civilization will descend into chaos. Parasites lead by example though, so they often increase in numbers.
Many people believe that civilization runs on law. This is a childish view. No matter how vicious, punitive, or draconian, law fails in the face of unethical people. The laws of Draco proved insufficient to maintain prosperity, order, and equanimity so had to be replaced. Draco supposedly believed that all violations should be punished with death but death being the ultimate punishment would have to suffice for the major crimes as well… yet failed to maintain order. Athens came to the brink of civil war under them. Solon saved Athens by repealing and replacing the Laws of Draco. Many people stop there but the story is deeper than that. Solon then led the people of Athens to ethical behavior by example. In that Solon then took a ten year self-imposed exile.
Under the laws of Solon Athens grew into the philosophical powerhouse we are taught. Was the reason Athens prospered due to the laws… or the ethics he inculcated through his life and example? Moreover, the laws were effectively the same when Pericles exploited the ostracism to get rid of a political rival and help establish a hegemony? He perverted the laws to do the opposite of their intent. He could do that because law is always insufficient to restrain ambitious men. Only ethics can restrain them because it causes them to restrain themselves. So Solon fixed despotic laws, yes, but more to the point he gave Athens an example of ethical leadership that they followed until Pericles. Pericles opened the door and Alcibiades took it to the next level. His lack of ethics made him a parasite no matter where he went.
Parasitism of civilization is a pyramid scheme. It benefits the first movers most and to a lesser degree each successive generation. Eventually, everyone will catch on and no one will have ethics for anything more than show. This is because once it’s obvious that ethics hobbles one, having them becomes irrational. In a civilization filled with parasites without ethics sucking the life blood from that civilization, being a parasite sooner rather than later is just self-interest. As ethics are violated, violations become the norm opening up ever worse violations. No one can do business in such a place. Machiavelli himself said that the people are better off under an orderly tyranny than a disorderly democracy. That’s because in chaos you are attacked, your business looted, and your children abused.
This provides the counter pressure to everyone becoming parasites. If people are educated properly that their self-interest and that of their loved ones lies in being ethical and enforcing ethical behavior in those around us, parasitism will be limited. Parasites will only be able to do limited damage before being found out and punished. It’s where a lack of ethics is tolerated and even lauded in some group that parasitism grows unabated. As foolish as it sounds, the cultural elite themselves sometimes promote parasitism. When they as a group get captured by a pernicious and perverted idea they can become their own worst enemies. Just as anyone can. So it is there that we must be the most vigilant. If we see a modern Pericles in the cultural elite, we must act… or maybe we should have.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
