running red lights
The most common ethical dilemma arises when driving someone to the hospital for emergency treatment. The law states that speeding and running red lights is illegal. However, this person could die if not treated quickly and is in their car.
It is noteworthy to hear the number of people who say they would ignore all the traffic rules and take them to the hospital. You’re probably telling yourself that now. But in reality, few people do this.
Why you probably won’t break the laws?
He has been so heavily conditioned by society that he will be punished if he breaks the laws and then publicly shunned or shamed for doing so. This is a dig more powerful than any fine.
Then you will begin to rationalize why you won’t speed or drive through red lights by saying to yourself;
- I have time and the doctors are very good
- I can have an accident and not get to the hospital
- I can hit and hurt another person
- If they die in my car, I did my best
- I don’t want to panic, and speeding will make me panic
What’s strange about this line of thinking is that it’s less about doing the right thing and more about your natural resistance to breaking the law.
You see a person steal food from a store
While shopping, you see a person stealing food right in front of you. Theft is illegal and they should be arrested, however you will start to think if the arrest is the right thing to do. You will quickly ask yourself questions to determine your action.
- Does the person appear to be starving or homeless?
- Make the appearance of a criminal
- Have they done this before?
- Have they looked for help in the emergency food kitchens?
- Does it look like they have money to buy the food?
- How old are they. Children and the elderly are often excused for stealing food.
See how they are trying to rationalize why they are stealing to figure out what course of action to take. However, the ethical choice is always to let them take the food. This is due to the simple fact that: If they need to steal, they need the food.
If you report or arrest them, you are not being ethical or doing the right thing. But wait a second, what about the right thing about all of us? If we accept theft as acceptable, where does it stop?
If I steal 200kg of meat, is that a need or a desire? What limit is acceptable to society and you in terms of being ethical or breaking the law. If your family needs food, do you only take what you need or do you take more to survive longer?
The problem of ethical behavior
The biggest problem with being ethical is that it often means that you are willing or need to break many laws in the pursuit of doing good. The organization will fire you if you make ethical decisions instead of taking care of the organization. Friends will think that you lack responsibility because your actions will not follow the rules of order of society.
Growing up, we are not encouraged or trained to be ethical, we are trained to follow the laws so that we can all live together safely. Here are some ethical decisions that we often have to make in our daily lives;
- We know that smoking kills, but we stand by and watch our friends commit suicide by smoking.
- After a night of partying and a few drinks, we let people drive knowing they are intoxicated and likely to kill someone.
- We know that counterfeit products, such as brand name bags, are made using slave labor, often children forced to work, yet we buy them because they are cheap.
- Many of us pass by someone who is sleeping rough and do not offer them shelter in our place.
- We walk down the street and mentally, sometimes verbally, insult those we pass by making comments about their size, weight, appearance, sexual preferences, or race.
- We continue to use gasoline to drive our cars because we are too lazy to walk anymore and consume our natural resources unnecessarily.
We all know what is the right thing to do in each of these ethical situations, but we rationalize why we don’t. How many times this week have you made unethical decisions?
