@Eco-Alex questions: Who are more culpable for inequality and injustice, the people who make rules and laws or the people who follow and enforce them? Is the notion "I'm just doing my job" ethical?
My answer to this question is D) None of the above
But first, i have to tear this question apart.
"inequality and injustice"? Seriously? These do not have any meaning in our time.
Inequality of opportunity or inequality of outcome? Both have had their meanings muddied so much as to be meaningless. In any system where you have humans, there is inequality.
Man vs Woman, who will win? Well, if the contest is having babies, its all over.
And injustice... seriously? There is no justice, there is just us.
Justice is a nice concept, but if you ever try to pin it down, after much deep thought, you find that there is no definition. There is nothing that works.
There is nothing that makes things whole after a crime has been committed.
So, we will have to restate this question.
Who are more culpable for the crimes committed, the people who give the orders or the people who follow and enforce them?
A) The order givers
B) The order followers
C) both of the above
D) none of the above
So, on one hand, we have a group of people who follow orders, who are ASSUMED would not do atrocities unless cajoled in some way.
And on the other, we have a group that is pure evil incarnate and want to see 90% of earthlings dead.
Both of these are untrue, and the reality is far worse.
WWII didn't happen because of Hitler. In fact, many time travellers have tried to kill Hitler. Every time someone takes his place and does about the same thing.
So, we we have to look at things on a broader stage.
In this instance the people of Germany where being robbed blind by "them" who were all the countries that they had beat in the war. They were left in a bind of ... why don't you all just go die. This created much resentment and the huge ball of resentment that was WWI added to the pile, and so, we had another world war.
Who was responsible? Just about everyone.
The only ones not responsible where people who were actively trying to make reparations and find win-win solutions.
And that was very few people.
As an instance, try doing what Gandhi did, suggest to people to just take the beating and do not fight back.
What you resist persists.
And thus, the order givers and the order followers where all part of a larger emotional mess that resulted in WWII.
However, that is not really answering the question.
Because the questioner actually means, "If you are a nazi, do you start killing jews, or do you go against the system?"
Which is a rather mean question, which breaks down to:
- Do you kill yourself / your family?
- Do you kill other people?
Well, which one do you do? At this moment all of your other options have been stripped from you. There were people who read the writing on the wall and got out of Dodge. But, you didn't, so what are you going to do?
Your nice, quiet life of not having to kill anyone is over. Your put in your hours and get your paycheck is on the line. What everyone in the community thinks of you is on the line. You will be ostracized or worse.
Very few people have the fortitude to kill themselves.
There were Buddhist monks who dowsed themselves in gasoline and set themselves on fire because they would not be part of the war.
There is no easy and nice answer to the question.
The game has been dealt. There is no getting up from the table.
Do you condemn people for placing their lives above other peoples?
Now, here is the reality of the psychopath ruled world we live in.
Psychopaths love to give people two choices that are both destructive.
The Trolley Problem is one such example. Do you kill one guy to save five?
That we still teach the Trolley Problem in schools means that we haven't gotten past this. The solution is easy and obvious, once you know the solution.
The answer is "None of the Above".
The accurate answer to the Trolley Problem is you stop believing in the system, the structure that says you are alone and that you have to make this choice.
Real answer are like this. A miracle happens. (and miracles happen all the time) Instead of the trolley breaking down and running away, it breaks down to where its wheels lock up. And then, out of no where, 6 vigilantes jump out and save all the people tied to the tracks. All while you video record the actual criminal who set all this up post it for all the world to see.
The psychopath says you have to choose, kill one or kill five.
The psychopath insists that there are no other answers.
And we just accept this as normal. As something you ask a class of students.
The Trolley Problem is abhorrent to all psychologically well people.
So too is the problem we have with order givers and order followers.
The structure that the psychopaths have created is, you follow the orders or your life is in jeopardy.
It is the structure that is the problem.
This is what is discussed in depth in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
If we got rid of all the people in govern-cement right now...
If we hung everyone in D.C. (they are all psychopaths, right?)
Everything would soon be back to the way it was.
The structure is what has to change.
Some examples of changes that would work better:
Laws should not be passed by 51%. They should be passed by 90%.
If it is a law, then most people already follow it.
Then, the law enforcers should vote on whether they will enforce the law.
Finally, the public should decide its constitutionality and appropriateness.
If the people do not ratify it, it should be null and void.
Further, we should vote with our tax dollars. Every year, with our tax forms, we should send in a page that states where the funds should be allocated to. And if some department is not doing its job as the people see, then it is closed down due to lack of funds. Or, in other words, an active opt-in system. (better yet is you send your donations to the branches of the protectorate that you want to support)
The culpability rests on all of us. We are all interconnected. We cannot single out any person as to blame for all the worlds problems. As long as we continue to make a distinction of one group is the "bad guys" then we all fail.
We also fail when we allow a person to commit atrocities because "its the law" or they are "in charge".