People too easily dismiss moral issues
A problem I have with some people these days is the ease with which they dismiss moral arguments.
Every moral argument has two parts: a theory and an application.
The theory is the question of: is this action morally right or wrong? When the theory question is answered, the next question is: how do we uphold this moral? That is the application question.
Too often, though, people find flaws with an application, and therefore dismiss the issue entirely, ignoring the theory component.
Take the recent news that the Recording Industry Association of America and NDSU’s ITS are going to start cracking down on pirated music as one example.
Many people are upset with the RIAA’s tactics for enforcing their rules. They think the law is unfair and that ITS invades peoples’ privacy when they search computers and delete music files.
So because people don’t like the RIAA and ITS’ tactics, they dismiss the whole issue and think that it’s okay to download music illegally.
However, the point of disagreement with the RIAA and ITS is a question of application, not theory.
If people don’t like the way the law is enforced, they should suggest a new application, not dismiss the debate immediately.
Unfortunately, that’s how many people in this country operate. Few people want to give a straight answer on moral issues, so instead they weasel around and find disagreements with applications, and don’t offer suggestions for how they’d change it.
You see this in politics all the time as well. Just pay attention as the elections approach.
Many Democrats, for instance, dislike how the war on terrorism is conducted, so instead of talking about the moral issues of why America is there, they talk about the application issues of how the war should be fought and funded.
Because they disagree with the method of fighting and funding, they are quick to say the whole issue is flawed, and we should just cut and run.
And a few Republicans, of course, make fallacies the other way. They understand the methods and ways that a war needs to be fought to win it; however, because they know they are right on the application issues, they ignore some of the moral issues.
For people to be completely logical about an argument, they need to focus on both the theory and application.
Focusing on only one side with the neglect of the other is just an easy way to avoid an argument.
And this fallacy doesn’t happen only in political matters. Take religion, for example.
Many people in this country are dissatisfied with how churches are run and how Christians or Muslims act, so they dismiss the religion entirely.
Their real problem, though, is often with how a believer applies his/her religion, not necessarily the tenets of a religion.
The thing to remember about all moral issues is that people will always mess up the application in someway.
People will never come up with a perfect system for anything. That doesn’t give anybody an excuse to dismiss a moral issue entirely.
Dennis is senior studying management communication.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum