Dear Friends,
It seems to me, any breach of ethics that is tolerated eventually becomes normal. This is because those who have no ethics have an advantage over those who do… but only until no one has ethics. Then the playing field is leveled again, but at a lower level. Those who have no ethics will constantly probe to see what they can get away with. This tires the rest of us out until we let them get away with something. Then they quickly normalize it and probe deeper. That means we are responsible for the deterioration of our society, culture, and governments… because we grew tired of constantly policing the unethical, so they normalized their immorality. This illustrates a system problem. That problem is the fact unethical people can constantly probe to see what they can get away with.
We can’t fault people for being themselves any more than we can fault a rattlesnake for eating mice. There are a great many people who for whatever reason have little self-control. Probing is a game to them. That’s why they constantly test limits. Then once a limit is breached they get a mental reward and go back to the game of testing limits. The rattlesnake gets a meal while the prober gets an advantage. They both get what they want so why stop it? The rattlesnake needs to eat and the unethical need an advantage. That’s why their actions emerge from their nature. They are just following their core instructions. So we can count on people who have no ethics or morals to test limits and normalize it the moment they get past one. While they are enjoying a game, we find it very fatiguing.
The rest of us grow tired of constantly pushing back to keep the unethical from moving the goal posts. We get no immediate reward for keeping our society, culture, and government ethical. The reward comes later in a higher standard of living for everyone. The regular person who has to expend energy to keep the unethical at bay can only fatigue under such a paradigm. Even as the ethical must delay reward for the energy spent, the unethical get instant reward in the form of advantage should they get even a minor victory. Meanwhile the victories of the unethical stack while the victories of the ethical only maintain the stack. Such a system can only wear down those that protect it and energize those that attack it. Eventually the ethical give up and join in taking the easy route to advantage.
Human nature is to take the easy route to anything of value if it’s available. In this we are like water seeking lower elevation via the easiest path and electricity seeking ground by all paths, moderated by resistance. The difference is that the path electricity or water takes has no effect on them, but the path human beings take has a great effect on us. When people take an unethical path to advantage they are molded by it, more than simply being less ethical because of it. The real damage is done in the psyche. Easiness leads to weakness. This is an adage in a dozen different areas of action. The guy who lazes on the couch all day becomes weak. The girl who gives in to every advance becomes weak. Just as the person who never thinks becomes weak. Ease leads to weakness and the unethical seek out ease.
Today there is no cost to testing limits, only reward. Meanwhile, there is great cost in energy spent for a distant reward of keeping things as they are. So it’s no surprise that the trajectory of civilizations is to rise in virtue and fall in vice. Testing limits leads to vice. Then vice leads to weakness. Finally weakness leads to collapse. Imposing a cost on testing limits helps to stop it. How to do it though? The institutions are full of people who test limits. Indeed that’s where much of the probing happens. The unethical are like rattlesnakes… you don’t sleep with them. They put our very civilization at risk. So it’s up to us. We must lead by example, stop admiring the vipers, as we ostracize and remove from power those who test limits. Unethical people will be our downfall if we allow it.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
