Thursday, August 14, 2008

How Moral Are We Anyway?


If your way of life was seriously threatened, how far would you go to get what you need?

Let's start with food. What if the price of it became so high that you could only afford to eat one meal a day? And if you had children, to eat even less so they could have more?

You could do it for a little while, but what if you saw no end in sight to the problem? And that the problem was through no fault of your own? Imagine that you've been laid off a good job, and now working two slave wage jobs, or none at all, because none were available.

Or that gas became so highly priced that you could barely afford to fill up a lawn mower, much less your car? And the price of home heating oil and electricity was so sky high that your temperature was set in the 40s and you slept with your coat on and burn candles for lighting in the evenings.

People throughout all the ages hate war, especially when the stakes are high and they may lose. Wars have generally been fought over resources and/or religion. The latter is often a cover for the former.

Men who lead them or those who get paid well to support them, even the senseless wars, generally don't mind. This is particularly true with propagandists, ie, the media and politicians, who benefit from being the mouthpieces of those who start them and when their lives are untouched.

Americans, by and large, have hated what's been going on in the past seven years in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the big one before that, Vietnam. The lies told and lives lost were senseless. We are fortunate enough to have the freedom to complain and criticize, unlike many other countries who better not publicly say a word about it.

Our ability to complain makes us feel good, almost like we're doing something. We see it as taking the moral high road, and that if we were in charge, we'd do things differently.

But now the stakes are extraordinarily high and our lifestyles are a hair's breath away from becoming unbearable. The global fight for diminishing oil is as serious as a massive heart attack. It's needed for food production, gas for our cars and energy for homes. The US dollar is about to drop again. The economy is in a shambles, and banks, airlines, and major businesses are going out of business. Our government is broke.

It won't be long before many of us are hurting. If another country has what we want - what we need - to hang on to some level of comfort for the rest of our lives and our children's lives, are we then ready to set aside our moral high ground and fight, kill and nuke to get it?

How moral will we be then?

Just a thought and a question.


9 comments:

  1. I can honestly say, I doubt that I'd be so moral as not to provide for my family in dire circumstances. Right now, I'm good because daddy is paying the bills/tuition. I'm young and I don't have any kids. The responsibilities I do have are self-induced because I'm trying to inch my way out into adult hood aka the real world.

    When SHTF for real...the US is going to become a jungle. Folks are gonna go back to primordial instincts. It's gonna be like all those riots and stuff that happened on the west coast when I was really little, but like 50x worse. It's gonna get really bad, and I righteously believe that people will resort to anything in order to survive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post,
    I just tagged you, check out my blog for more details.

    Peace

    ReplyDelete
  3. A man said life aint easy,
    When niggas gotta eat thats when shit gets greasy.

    Lupe Fiasco

    ReplyDelete
  4. Most will do what they have to do to get by. Folks in the hood have been doing that already.
    I think people who are struggling now will have it easier than those who have never had to struggle. Why? Because they know what it takes to survive when you don't have money to pay all the bills or for food and gas.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll say what I've always said about morality: Folk are moral when they have a roof over their heads and food in their bellys.

    When those aren't available then morality goes out the window. Heck, even a healthy dose of fear can make folks morals go out the window.

    Morality is an easily punctured illusion.

    Brown Sugar

    ReplyDelete
  6. u know if we dont drill folk (BO) he gone end up being a lost bag in the airport - y folk givin him a free ride, he stil a poly trickster

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shy, "Folks are gonna go back to primordial instincts." My #2 worry after starving.

    Truth, Mucho thanks.

    JayMidnyte, We can usually depend on hiphop to tell it like is.

    Sheila, Agreed, as long as we don't starve, for black folks, it will be more of the same.

    Torrance, Your comment and reference to Barack came after I posted the new article of the lunatics thinking BO is the anti-Christ. This tells me you left your comment on the wrong post, but I suspect you know that. No matter, what you said applies to him too, more than I wish it did.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Like Sheila said, folks in the hood been doing what they had to do forever.

    Truthfully when I was a young single Mama, I did some things I pray my children especially my daughter will never have to do to keep us with our needs met. Looking back while I feel bad and there are some who would say I chose a um, less than moral path, I say its survival.

    No, I suspect many will find that their moral compass goes in an entirely different direction when faced with not eating or not having a roof over their heads.

    I used to be a program manager in a homeless shelter, and I met people who would do all sorts of things that middle America would be reviled by, yet I had a problem passing judgement. Who am I to stand in judgement, in some ways I respect folks who do whatever it takes to provide for their family.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey there!

    This is very poignant...

    Lots to think about...

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete

Hi, this is Kit.

I haven't posted since summer 2010, and comment moderation has been on for a very long time.

My old blogger friends (you know who you are) are welcome to email me.

I can be reached at:
kitsmailbag@gmail.com.