Wednesday 11 April 2012

illusion of Justifications


Why are there bad people on God's green earth? Why do they do what they do? Don't they feel any remorse or pity? Have they no decency or empathy? Such people most of the times bypass the moral criteria and fall in the deep rabbit hole of logical fallacy. Nobody wants to admit that he/she is a bad person and that it's alright to commit diabolical acts. So in order to commit an unethical act, what most people do this that they acquire a sort of proxy to channel their justification cause without justification, it becomes very difficult to commit an unethical act for a sane person. Consider the following faulty justifications :- 

1. Displacement of responsibility is that process when one blames his/her unethical behavior on the other for e.g " I took the bribe because my boss said to do so".
2. Diffusion of responsibility is that process when a person commits unethical act and no one is being held responsible for e.g "We all take bribe, that's the way we do business here"
3. Advantageous comparison is that process when one compare's his unethical act to someone's whose level of unethical behavior is greater for e.g"I only do drugs while my friends do drugs, alcohol ,gambling and fornication".
4.Self-advantages comparison is that process when one justifies his evil act by committing good one's also for e.g "I know it was bad of me to hit a person with my car and run away but am not such a bad person as I give donations and help the needy one's also"
5. Attribution of blame is that process when one blames his/her unethical act because of someone else's behavior for e.g " My co-worker called me some abusive words so that's why I repeatedly beat him with an inch of his life".
6. Euphemistic labeling is that process of using sugar-coated words in order to justify their heinous crimes for e.g Terrorist sounds bad but freedom fighter is much more justifiable.
7. The "nobody's perfect" acquittal is that trap in which one justifies by saying that some unethical acts are ok since nobody's perfect for e.g "I know I cheated but everyone have their weaknesses and nobody's perfect". It's true that nobody's perfect but make an effort to eliminate your weaknesses and don't just sit on your arse like a spoiled brat and do nothing about it.
8. Masquerade of Greater Good is that deception which can be exploited by moral people even. In this process one commits evil/unethical acts and claims to do so for greater good for e.g" Since that leader is a corrupt and atrocious person therefore it deems prudent to have him assassinated so that the public can be spared."

Not always justification is required to commit unethical acts as I commit such an act of piracy (will post about it) and have no justification for it. Also there are those short-sighted people who don't perceive their immoral acts as immoral and continue to do so for the sake of short-term pleasure against long-term deterioration.




Endnote
1. Reference from "Effective Leadership (3rd edition)" by "lussier/Achua". Points 4, 7 & 8 are self generated.
2. Do share if you have more justification points to add.
3. I mostly fall for point 7.


There can never be any justifiable justification for immoral acts


29 comments:

  1. This is a very common thing which we observe daily..people do wrong things either by mistake or on purpose..after all they are humans and not angels..but when they give such lame and poor excuses for their wrong doings which you mentioned through your post, it actually shows that they are weak..if you do something wrong, admit it that you did a mistake straight away..you wont have to waste energy making up stories then..if you do it on purpose..then say you were wrong if you are good enough to realize your mistake and if still you are not good enough then suffer the consequences of your wrong act

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  2. A very interesting post. Hmm.. I wonder, does it count to blame actions on one's past experiences?

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  3. interesting...agree with you :)

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  4. Thank you all for your comments
    @ sumaiya
    I agree with you. Your right that these faulty justification has become a common practice in our society and one needs to first accept his mistake if that person wants to rectify the problem.
    @ MissO
    Yes it is basically the past experiences that shape up a person's personality and thinking process. Some blame can be attributed to it but not all.

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    1. I agree.
      btw I'm still waiting on you to complete the tag.I'm curious of the answers. :p

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    2. damn! you don't forget do you :).....well alright i'll do it but give me some days cause am writing my mphil thesis these days and i have so much to write here also but unable to do so

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    3. Haha no I don't. Alright I'll be waiting. :)

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  5. Thoughtful after reading this..something worth considering..

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  6. The whole idea of blaming someone else for your mistakes- having a scapegoat. It's ridiculous.

    There are so many excuses you can use before you run outta one already. The problem is that people aren't responsible enough to admit that their own actions can have a negative impact on everyone else they interact with. To them I can only say, "man up a little".

    Nice post, very thought provoking.

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  7. Wow, quite a thing to ponder upon.

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  8. Totally amazing ..it really made to ponder ..I will be really glad if you will follow me ...and visit my blog

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    Replies
    1. P.S. off what I wrote it really made me to ponder upon (sorry)

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  9. thanx and dont worry about the mistake....i do it all the time and the damn comment box wont let me edit it :)

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  10. You write like an aurat, really. I feel embarassed because of my vulgar posts. =P

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  11. Aurat? like a women?......not sure what you mean????

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  12. I meant you write like actual writers nah. =3

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    Replies
    1. oh alright :)....thanks for the compliment and clearing it up

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  13. Thank you for following my blog feel free to comment on my new bloglet on "Knowledge", Interesting blog by the way, stay blessed.

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  14. No justification for immoral acts.. How true. Cause no justification can cover up the deeds done.
    Bad people on the green Earth. Are they really people when they don't act like humans should!

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    Replies
    1. But yes, mistakes happen. And we should be ready to take the blame.
      It was a nice read :)

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  15. Thank you for your contribution

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    1. It was a good post but guess what ? I hold a slightly different opinion here. Finding a scapegoat to put all our blames on is ESSENTIAL for our well being ! If you act over-conscientious and generously accept blame for every thing going wrong in your life then you'll dig a grave of guilt and depression for yourself to crawl out of which is slightly less tricky than deciphering the Mayan calenders ! So if you feel like deceiving yourself that a break up with a friend was due to mismatching natures instead of lack of commitment on your part, go for a deception that clears all blame on you than for a truth that burdens you under guilt. I know I sound horrid but these days , that sounds like the best way of remaining functional. Life , after all, is the art of being well deceived !

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  16. if one goes for deception then it can have long term consequences. I believe the truth will prevail in the end. But thank you for bringing another perspective and the readers can decide what is best.

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