Thursday, February 19, 2009
Lifeboat Ethics
In class and in Kohak's book we discussed how the movie Titanic can be applied to the idea that all people are equal. I have seen this movie many times and have always felt sadness for the people who did not make it in the lifeboats. This is a clear example of how people with money or people that are considered upper class are considered more important than others. I think this is a very sad thing. Just because one person has more money than another does not make them better. They may have worked hard for their money, but that does not mean that they are more important, just that they could use some acknowledgement for their hard work. The movie Titanic was a good example of how people should not act towards one another. Everyone should have got a fair chance to get into a boat. Even if a rich person bribed the workers, they should have said no and moved along and let a deserving person in the boat. This brings up another point about who would be deserving to get in the lifeboat. It is a very hard thing to think about especially since there were not enough boats to accomodate everyone. My personal opinion is that everyone is equal and they should have made more room in the boats for more people. Everyone should have gotten a fair chance to be saved.
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Many of these posts on the Lifeboat Ethic seem to have a common theme: it's not fair and we want to make more room on the lifeboat, because everyone equally deserves to be saved. I think that this is a normal response, but the brutallity of this ethic lies in the fact that there simply isn't enough room in the boatto begin with. Something has to be sacrificed, because it just isn't going to be able to stay afloat if we all jump in. I'm among the many sympathizers who want eveyone to have an equal chance to be saved, and so I offer up an alternative. Yes, something must be sacrificed, but perhaps we can all fit in the boat if some of us conceed to throw out some of those things that we insist on taking into the lifeboat with us. Maybe the boat has a capacity of 60, but if this woman just has to bring her hairdryer, and this man just has to bring his laptop, and if someone luggs in a bigscreen television... well, you get the point. More people fit if these few will concede to give up some luxuries. This is the position we find ourselves in today. It's a fact that not everyone on Earth can live like Americans. The world simply could sustain such a vast demand. What's the figure? Like 10 percent of the world's population consumes 90 percent of its resources, or some other ungodly statistic? Well, if 100% of the world's population attempted to consume comprable resources to that top 10 percent, it obviously isn't going to work. This is the truth that the lifeboat ethic seems to be centered in. Now, maybe we could all fit into the boat if that 10 percent agreed to use less. If we could relinquish some luxuries, overhaul our extravagant consumer lifestyles, maybe, just maybe, we could make room in the boat for more people. True, many vital facets, expectations, and norms held in the civilized world would undoubtedly have to be overhauled, cultures practically reinvented, but if it saves the future of mankind, isn't it worth it? We'd just have to convince people to throw what's really unneccessary overboard -or we all go down with the ship.
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