Distorted morality: causes and consequences

Distorted Morality

Ethical morality has graced the U.S. landscape in many issues surrounding humanity. However, its principles are applied in a rather bias manner in which society accepts the official stance of the government regarding political issues. For example, the war on terror has garnered great attention and resources for the last ten years. Yet, the U.S. is not any closer to eliminating the constant threat of terror. Hence, Chomsky devoted several lectures that highlight the rise of moral integrity in which much lip service is given.

Terrorism - Hypocritical View

As Chomsky's purports the notion "we are all total hypocrites on any issue relating to terrorism," he feels that morality is merely a relative issue, rather an absolute reality. He uses two guidelines in assessing this theory: 1) Give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible, 2) Accept the pronouncements of leadership. Chomsky posits that the U.S. applies standards to others that do no apply to its own people. Americans should stop talking about human rights, unless they can rise to a level of moral integrity. They accept the official definition of terrorism, which means "calculating use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religion, or ideological in nature." Hence, precedence was established because the government capitalized on the society's fear and vulnerability.

Personal Viewpoint

It is now over a decade since the terrorist attacks in the U.S., simply named as "9-11," shocked the world, and ushered in a global war on terror. With disbelief and shock around the world, people saw the news footage of the events on September 11, 2001 when the planes-turned-missiles slammed into the World Trade Center towers and into the Pentagon. What is probably the worst terrorist attack on the United States was inexcusable and roundly condemned. In hindsight, what has the U.S. To show for its decade of efforts? Has it been winning the war on terror? It depends how it is measured. The killing of Osama Bin Laden was of course a major success. However, the cost of vengeance, as opposed to justice has also been high:

A further turn towards hatred and a rise in those who think most Muslims are terrorists, that Islam is a threat to the world, etc.

Wars that have seen far more than the 3,500 deaths that the U.S. saw, and a self-fulfilling prophecy; creating more anger and resentment against the U.S., more potential terrorists, and the complete opposite of what the neo-cons wanted; global downturn and U.S. decline instead consolidating their power and position in the world.

Over 6,000 U.S. soldiers killed in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with possibly 100 times that number of civilians in those countries (in Iraq, at an early point, there was an estimated range of 400,000 to 900,000 civilian deaths, which of course Bush had to reject, claiming it used flawed techniques, even though it used estimation techniques his own government agencies taught others to use).

By framing this as a war on terror, an excuse is now afforded to all governments to put in place tough security measured on any potentially flimsy basis. Subsequently, the predicted war on civil liberties and human rights has unfortunately proven true as human rights organizations around the world feared from the start of the war on terror. Oftentimes, governments instill the mood of anger and vengeance as well as shock and disbelief, which reflects badly on U.S. society. Moreover, not all have wanted vengeance. Many families of the victims of 9-11 have campaigned for a more peaceful approach to combating terrorism.