The Good, The Bad and the Moral
Posted by Travis Murk on March 12, 2010
A short while ago I was sitting in a cafe with a friend. I reckon we must’ve been talking about our hopes, dreams and other similar nonsense when I suddenly uttered the words: “I want to rule the world”. I said this with only a vague smile, so it wasn’t until after an uncomfortable silence that she hesitatingly started laughing. It was one of those poorly feigned laughs and her eyes betrayed sentiments that were somewhere between mild confusion and slowly building dread. To ease her mind I started laughing too, and that was the end of that.
I say this sentence fairly often, and every time I try to pass it of as a non sequitur or a mere whim in a flood of seemingly random tomfoolery. But I really do want to rule the world.
The only thing I am not certain about is whether my rule would be benevolent or tyrannical. I think this has a lot to do with my relativist viewpoint on morale. How do we decide whether something is right or wrong? I tend to view morality as a construct of society, serving only to maintain a certain order of things, a status quo, if you will. I don’t think, thus, that there is anything that can be intrinsically wrong. Yes, intrinsic would hereby seem to refer to the hidden social structures, but if we are to understand the word in layman’s terms, then it tends to refer to “a natural sense” of sorts. Which is fine, if you’re the sort of person who believes in fairy tales.
This is not to say I would not hesitate to commit “atrocities”. I would, in fact (which is exactly why I’m not in prison right now). But hypothetically speaking, if I were to be bestowed with a power upon all creatures inhibiting this planet, I cannot say I would not be extremely tempted to exercise devastation on at least some of them.
For what it’s worth, I would find a justification for it – a justification which you would not find disagreeable in itself. It might even seem “moral”. The method may repulse you but I am more flexible in that sense. But because of my agnostic, non-antagonistic posture towards a Grand Architect figure I have for the present time adopted, and the inherent repressive measures characteristic of that figure, I might be disinclined to do certain things. But for reasons of “morale”? Hardly.
I would love to know how much of what people do, or rather, don’t do, is dependent on fear, rather than arbitrary categories of right and wrong. What would happen if tomorrow it were announced that everybody is entitled to a life of eternal bliss in heaven regardless of what they have done in this world? Would they carry on with the nine-to-five routine or wreak all sorts of hell on their fellow men?
For the time being I do not rule the world. It is unlikely this will change, because I am not willing to do anything to attain Lordship over Earth. There is too much trouble involved, and the actual pay-offs are negligible. So, I will stop here, with a reflection on how wonderful it is that I can turn anything into a joke and never really draw any lines in the sand – including with things no-one can afford to be serious about.
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