Monday, December 26, 2005

mass transit in the Triangle

Getting to work during rush hour is unbelievably ridiculous. Everyone commutes by car, usually with a 1-person-1-car sort of deal. No one takes the bus, even though a ticket is cheaper than the cost of gas used. What is it with people? Why is their first response to the traffic to just widen the lanes? What do you think about the NC govt.'s new plan to subsidize companies whose employees telecommute from home?

Monday, December 12, 2005

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?

Phillip posed a few questions about the role of ignorance in ethics a few days ago. To see our thoughts on this issue, read the comments; please chew 'em up and spit 'em out (that means spit out comments, preferably criticisms). I've reworded his questions below:

1) Do we have an obligation to determine the morality of our trivial actions?
2) Does ignorance of what is right or wrong in a given situation excuse you from being held morally accountable in that situation?
3) Does ignorance matter in ethics?

I have moved my inital answers to the comments section of Phillip's original post of these questions (see 12.08.05).

inspire us... please

any ideas for a title for this site?

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Recently, a family friend of ours has gotten engaged. People from India are pretty conservative in thinking, and as far as the ones in America, it's especially true of the older generation. They goal of most these people is practically prescribed: study well, get a good job, make money, get married, have kids, and send them through the same process. The son of my parents' friends was older than 30, and had a nontraditional job and lifestyle (organic veg. farmer in VT). The first concern for his parents was the job and lifestyle. As of late, it has been his bachelorhood.

When he announced his engagement, it almost was a surprise. And it was good news, well, to most. One of his parents has not taken well to the fact that the bride (I can't imagine what it would've been like if the spouse-to-be were a groom) is... well... White. In particular, his mom would not be happy unless she was of the same culture and of the same caste. Such an insular attitude isn't too uncommon, perhaps, for 1st generation Asian immigrants. I suppose you could call it indirect racism or something, becuase it's there, but maybe not necessarily overt or intentional.

But then I started to think about racism in general. Or discrimination, or prejudice. I think they seem to breed negativity inherently. A hypothetical example, you'd never hear a Nazi say, "Ooh, congratulations for the Jewish girl, she's marrying that German guy. Now her life will be better b/c he's there. Good for him to spread Aryan values to the heathen Jews." Instead, it'd be, "*@#$ Jewish girl, stealing for herself a German guy. And stupid German guy, for marrying her." Maybe that isn't a perfect example, but anyways, in an us-vs.-them mindset, it's too easy to see the worst in things when different kinds of people interact.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Puahaha... I laughed out loud at the security guard story

Luis - at least for my sake could you provide a better definition of what is "right" - you seem to be saying that in some situations there is no "right" course of action, but there may be a "best" course of action, which according to Mill's theory would then equate to "right." I neglected to read the comments on Luis's post, I think they covered it pretty well.

I'm actually curious about what you all believe about right and wrong as they apply to trivial things - say, do I buy my groceries from Food Lion or the Harris Teeter? Is it my responsibility to find out which is the more ethical/moral choice? Or does morality only depend on what you already know - if you shopped at Food Lion, and that money was being used to nuke rainforests, does ignorance of this fact shield you from being wrong? Or does it matter at all?

Phillip
a lil' story...
I had arrived late to play some basketball with some of my classmates at the gym when I started talking to a security guard by the entrance who had been watching them play.

Security Guard - "you joining those guys" (he motions to my classmates)
Me - "yep"
Security Guard - "you guys grad students?" (I guess he thought we looked dorky)
Me - "yea... we're medical students"
[short silence as he turns to watch my classmates play]
Security Guard - "I hope their doctor skills are better than their ballin' skills."
[Two other security guard regulars by the door laugh. I do too.]
[short pause]
Security Guard - "If not, there's gonna be a lotta dead motherfuckers."
[The guards laugh somemore.]
[then silence ... ]

-Dan

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

ex nihilo

Forthwith, this site is declared in existence!
I would like to welcome everyone to this unnamed symposium. Any topic is fair game for our exploration, so feel free to share anything that you wish.

Peace,
Dan

PS
Any suggestions for a title?