Being the angry person that I am, I see / hear things on a daily basis that really bother me. Most of the time I just forget about them because it’s not worth the time and energy sitting on things that don’t matter in the bigger picture. Today I saw something that really got to me and I can’t seem to get it out of my head so I might as well share. On my way home from work, when I arrived on the J train platform there was a kid there who was probably around my age standing there with an enormous TV on a wooden platform with wheels. My first reaction was how the hell did he get this on the train platform, down then up at least 3 flights of stairs...
He was at the back of the train, which is where I had to wait. This kid looked puzzled and as the platform started to fill up with people waiting for the train people started to ask him exactly what I was thinking - how did he manage to get that huge TV to the spot it was sitting, let alone by himself. It turns out that the TV was just sitting there and it didn’t belong to him, but since it was seemingly abandoned he was considering taking it but couldn’t figure out how to get it home. A few people told him that it’s not worth it because he doesn’t even know if it works.
The kid started wondering out loud if it was “ethical” to take a TV that didn’t belong to him that was left in the subway. Then he saw one of the onlookers was a Hassidic Jewish man. He turns to the Jewish man and says “Hey, maybe I should ask you for your ethical opinion on this one... is it ethical to take a TV that has been has been left in the subway but might belong to someone who is coming back for it?”
I immediately walked to the other side of the platform. Grrrrr! How naive of this kid to think that just because someone is religious that they should be consulted for their moral opinion on anything. How does this kid know the man isn’t on his way home after spending a few hours in a sleezy motel room in Times Square with his favorite whore? Should I ask him if sodomy is morally wrong? Maybe he would know if it’s wrong for a married man to sleep with a single woman? How about if it’s ethical to shake a woman’s hand?
In our society, morals and ethics are unfortunately tied to religion. Even more unfortunate is the common misconception is that those without god or religion in their lives can’t possibly be good or ethical people.
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Yes indeed. Just because he's Jewish, does that make him wise? Stereotypically they are supposed to be wise, but he could also be a social retard. I wrote on morality and religion at my blog just last week: http://atheistclimber.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/morality-vs-logic-in-debate/
ReplyDeleteI will read it right now! Thanks, Marty!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your observation, but I do not think that it is the right conclusion - at least not about the kid.
ReplyDeleteIf we are in a confusing situation we are going to seek out what is familiar to obtain the best answer. It would only make sense that if this child were religious, he would seek out someone he trusts for the answer - another religious person.
I am quite certain that if the child was not religious, he'd look to someone else whom he trusts and is familiar with. If his family dynamic is one where the mother is head of household, he'd likely look for a woman of similar demographic, race and social class as his mother. Would this mean that because he sought out a white woman in her mid 30's that he is racist and age biased? If he lives alone with his grandfather, he might be more likely to seek out an elderly man. Does this mean he is sexist?
If he was Catholic, he'd look for a priest. If that didn't work, he'd look for the next best thing - in a child's mind without a whole lot of prejudice - this might be the first religious looking person he can find. "I know that guy is Jewish, and I know that Jewish people are religious". The child was confused, and everyone there was offering slightly different opinions about what he should do with the TV.
Developmentally, he cannot listen to them all at once and sort out what means what, so he'll seek out one opinion over the others - and thus, he chooses someone who is familiar to him.