Self-Centered Morality
College teaches policy respect, neglects basic human rights
"Our benchmark in valuing lives lost or saved during Desert
Storm is the Value of Statistical Life (VSL) in the United States.
VSL was developed for cost-benefit analysis to assist in the
evaluation of public and private programs that reduce the
probability of death (industrial safety, pollution control, etc.)
and to settle legal claims for wrongful death … The literature
puts the acceptable range of VSL between $1.7 and $9.2
million."
— Wolfson, Gutierez, Traynor and Smith; "Gulf War"
"Not against him whom we hate are we most unfair, but against
him who is no concern of ours."
— Frederick Nietzsche
I really ought to be doing my homework; I am three weeks behind.
One of the most annoying things, other than going to school at a
construction site, are people with their flyers and causes and
whatever asking for money, signatures and time. Who has time
nowadays?
After all, time is money, and none of us are as rich as we want
to be, are we? If we were rich, why would we (social science
students, in particular) be here, paying ever-increasing tuition,
and not on some tropical island? There are truly better paths to
enlightenment for those who love what they do. What we really want
are good jobs.
Modern universities, in general, and UCLA in particular, exist
to help us along. To quote Nietzsche, "What the ‘higher schools’ in
Germany really achieve is a brutal training, designed to prepare
huge numbers of young men, with as little loss of time as possible,
to become usable, abusable, in government service."
Most of us will end up as teachers (or other types of government
workers), lawyers, journalists or waiters. Then, after about 40
years of gainful employment, hopefully we’ll have lived happy and
fairly prosperous lives. Is there anything else in life?
Occasionally, I try to keep up with world events. I saw a
vegetarian poster in the room of my friend, Andrew. It said that 20
million people die annually of conditions related to malnutrition.
I also read a passage in a European Union pamphlet on why it is
European policy to throw huge amounts of subsidized surplus food
away rather than to distribute it. (American policy is the same;
one might remember John Steinbeck’s "Grapes of Wrath.") I forget
the reasons why.
A story that got some coverage two years ago was the short civil
war in Rwanda. In a matter of four weeks, more than half a million
people had been massacred. It got on the front page a few times
(right alongside O.J.), and then slinked into the back pages and
into obscurity. None of my friends really gave it much
attention.
Were there 100 or 200 people in the Oklahoma bombing? Now, it’s
true that the disaster is closer, especially if one lives in the
area affected. However, as I live in California, such disasters
usually involve people with whom I hold only one bond: nation. The
Oklahoma bombing gets a day of mourning, and it is much more
memorable than Rwanda. At least Rwanda got some coverage; hey,
maybe the lives of 500,000 Rwandans equals about 100 Americans.
It’s no coincidence that after the Gulf War, the names of the
148 Americans killed in action were so solemnly displayed on
network news. Few talk about the more than 100,000 Iraqi dead
(except those who take pride in it), or about the hundreds of
thousands dead as a result of domestic revolts the United States
incited and then left in the lurch, or those who continue to perish
under the United Nations’ embargo on Iraq. We got what we
wanted.
And of course, they’re not Americans. It’s all right if
foreigners die, especially if they are deemed the enemy, and
especially if we gain in the process.
Armed with my university education, I am even less prone to
conscience. Political science courses often concern themselves
primarily with a discussion of what the American national interest
is and neglect the issue of human dignity.
I know that we are all just animals anyway, because the theory
of evolution tells me so. Charles Darwin, as Kurt Vonnegut pointed
out, proves that those who die are meant to die. The population
bomb tells me that there are too many people on the earth anyway;
so, sad as death may be, it’s not such a tragedy that massacre
happens. Finally, relativism tells me that there are no absolute
moral truths, making it much easier to recognize the limited nature
of morality.
After all, human rights are not a universal standard. In the
words of a Chrysler executive (who was defending himself to human
rights activists for business practices in foreign lands which
involved human rights abuse), to apply Western standards would be
"ridiculous." And in any case, objectivity is a myth – there are
only viewpoints. We actually know nothing – in general and
regarding human rights violations, in particular.
I do know one thing, though: I need a beer. What would we do
without sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll? We need release from tension
like we need air to breathe. We turn away from what is "depressing"
for very good reasons. Good jokes matter more than clear thinking,
and a skillful quip can silence the best of arguments.
Typically, trifles tend to captivate our minds. "Conversation"
is not for wisdom. It’s "small talk," that is, the prolonged
meaningless exchange of words that prevents self-reflection.
In fact, more and more, the only thing worth taking seriously
becomes the job, school and other unavoidable obligations. We often
turn our brains off once there is seemingly no more carrot. The
upshot is that the only thing one is practical about is obeying
orders. We then become the perfect product of a system that
commodifies human life.
For others who have the leisure, perhaps it is time that
informal debating clubs be formed at UCLA. Either no suitable
forums for political philosophy exist now, or they don’t advertise
themselves nearly well enough. We need to think big. God’s death
needs a response. The moral vacuum is nothing short of a
catastrophe.
We must find out what happened to "the inherent dignity and
equality of every human being." Even if the conclusion is not in
favor of what United Nations high commissioner of human rights
José Ayala Lasso calls a "universal culture of human rights,"
society lacks and desperately needs a critical force.
Osman is a fourth-year history student.
Mike Osman
Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu
Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu