The Morality of the Two Wrongs

As long as I have been cognizant of my own reality and have had the ability to listen and interpret speech, the old adage "two wrongs don't make a right" has been a part of my proverbial upbringing. I was reared with the idea of reciprocity. Do unto others. You get what you give. Walk a mile in someone else's shoes. It all boils down to this universal, idea of reciprocity. But in an attempt to be more specific, I felt the need to define concretely this seemingly human construct, this concept of 'morality'. Well, it turns out I'm not the only one who thought about morality in a more definable sense, either. Psychologist Jonathan Haidt, in a 2008 TED talk entitled Jonathan Haidt On the Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives, identified and defined five universal "foundations of morality". Let's explore each of these:

Harm / Care

 As mammals, Haidt explains, we are all wired to"bond with others, care for others, feel compassion for others - especially the weak and vulnerable - [and] gives us very strong feelings about those who cause harm." These feelings and emotions we feel about those who do harm to people generally shows up in each of us in the form of fear, anger, or shock. Typically, we describe those individuals that are either devoid or lacking of these feelings as having a disconnection, a lack of "moral fiber", or lacking compassion. We attach negativity to their identifiers, to those who display these behaviors; We refer to them as unbalanced, apish, inhumane, primitive, and, in some cases, even  pathological.

Fairness / Reciprocity

While there seems to be "ambiguous" evidence for reciprocity and fairness in the rest of the animal kingdom, it is easily observable in humans and very much present in culture, society, and humanity as a whole. Most of us have heard and understood the simplicity of its meaning in such parables as ones found in various bibles and religious texts. But to say that 'we reap what we sow' is as historically tell-tale and common as was the implications of Homer's Odyssey during the time of the Greek Empire. It describes where we come from and from what we evolved. Reciprocity is the remnants of the birth of mankind from a savage world wrought with predation and catastrophe, one from which we we lived as we fought to survive long ago. It was necessary to identify enemies, perhaps, and a simple act of reciprocity was a way to elicit a positive, useful, or otherwise compatible behavior from another.

Ingroup / Loyalty

Likely leftover from when we began to live in tribes and bands as nomads, human beings have a strong sense of loyalty. Since ancient times, to be cast out of society was to punish.  Oedipus cast himself out of Thebes as punishment for his actions in Sophocles famous play, Oedipus Rex. When people act as criminals, we take them out of society and lock them away in prisons as punishment. We are a communal species by nature. Hermits are regarded as strange, foreign, disturbed, crazy, eclectic, unrefined, and unconventional. The familiar saying, "it's always the quiet ones" refers to the belief that those who disconnect from their fellow human beings seem to perform the worst acts as evidenced by David Berkowitz, the famous 'Son of Sam' serial killer from 1976 and 1977. But tribal behavior is part of our competitive nature, too, alludes Haidt as he shows a group of people in a football stadium and say, "even when we don't have [tribes], we make them because it's fun."

Authority / Respect

While observers of animal species can see evidence of submissive behavior in a wide variety of species, human beings are the only species that seems to have alternative motivations for such behavior other than dominion and control. While the desire for power over another person is certainly a powerful motivator for many (not to mention a violation of the compassion aspect of morality), morality comes into play when we experience "voluntary forms of deference and even sometimes love." in the instances where we realize that we are wrong and someone else is right in an argument, we often submit to the truth wielded by another. It is a common belief and understanding that societies authorize elders to speak out about certain topics because their experiences are well respected. Consider, if you will, thefollowing quote from the 1997 film, Amistad, as spoken by the character of John Adams (Anthony Hopkins) to the US Supreme Court:

         James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, 
        George Washington... John Adams. We've long resisted asking you for 
        guidance. Perhaps we have feared in doing so, we might acknowledge that our 
        individuality, which we so, so revere, is not entirely our own. Perhaps we've 
        feared an... an appeal to you might be taken for weakness. But, we've come to 
       understand, finally, that this is not so. We understand now, we've been made to 
       understand, and to embrace the understanding... that who we are *is* who we 
       were. We desperately need your strength and wisdom to triumph over our fears, 
       our prejudices, ourselves. Give us the courage to do what is right. And if it 
       means civil war? Then let it come. And when it does, may it be, finally,  the last 
       battle of the American Revolution. 

Purity / Sanctity

The concepts of purity and sanctity are historically regarded in terms of sex and chastity. The traditional, albeit largely mythical, view of chivalrous knights are that they rescued chaste princesses and damsels in distress. Until she ate the fruit of the tree in the Garden of Eden, Eve was innocent and pure. After, Eve then saw that she was naked and became ashamed. Haidt regards this as a typically conservative view, but recognizes that this eternal, sacred quest for purity is one that can be found by liberals in food. "Food is becoming extremely moralized, and a lot of it is about purity and what you're willing to touch and put into your body" Haidt says, standing in front of an advertisement selling organic fruit juice. A common view of hippies in the 1960's and early 1970's were of a group of young people who wanted to "live off the land" and "get back to nature", believing that they would be rewarded in some sort of way in the long term. Either way, the body remains a temple of sorts, and should not be defiled or suffer acts of blasphemy, metaphorically speaking.

Ok, I admit that may have been a bit long. But that brings us back to the idea of reciprocity. See? I'm not the only one who believes that reciprocity is something that is characteristic of a moral mindset. This brings us back to the original question: why is it that two wrongs do not make a right? Well, at this point, we can take a couple of approaches: 1.) we can use the mathematical approach, or  2.) we can take what I will call The Moral Law of Reciprocity approach as reciprocity is explained above.

The Mathematical Approach

In simple math, a negative number added to another negative number cannot yield a positive number; it directs the count in a negative direction, always. On the other hand, a positive number added to a negative number does the same thing from the perspective of the positive number. However, only two positive numbers added together can be positive. This is the course of logic with the idea that "two wrongs don't make a right". The cause and result relationship between morality and opposing behaviors is in the negativity of the two behaviors, which repel each other and are, therefore, incompatible and incapable of combining to create anything but a negative result.

The Moral Law of Reciprocity

Recognizing that all things that are amoral because they are intrinsically amoral rather than because someone or something has deemed them as such, reciprocity is also true by this fashion. We don't go around murdering people because someone told us it is bad, but because it is bad, in and of itself. Likewise, if we want to be treated well, we have a moral obligation to treat others well. This truth is self evident. In the case of the "two wrongs" argument. each opposing wrong is, in and of itself, wrong; there is nothing good or true about either of them. Without a positive instance present, there can be no good to come out of them. Goodness does not create itself. Goodness doesn't spring from nothingness. Now, this doesn't mean that reciprocity of negativity is good because, well, two wrong don't equal a right. But also, reciprocity is only good if it is the result of something that doesn't violate the other tenets of morality, such as Haidt's harm / care. In this opposing view, it becomes not reciprocity but rather vengeance, vindication, compromise, or a unilateral result. In other words, the result can only be neutral or bad if both causes aren't good. Therefore, The Moral Law of Reciprocity states that reciprocity is a.) inherently good, b.) constructed of elements that are good, and c.) can only end with a positive result.


Invino Veritas
4/24/12
EOF

Two Epiphanic Interjections

Id Quod Sequitur
        
Explore, discover,  and to educate, 
Innovate,  progress, and perpetuate,
Did where with what by who,
And how at when and why by you.
Here within forms the question,
There without leads to reason,
Here at last reveals the lesson,
Where withal changes season,
There we go, together, forward,
'Ere, alas, to stumble ever onward.
From the quandary to the journey,
Advancing forth from the learning,
Launching, probing and ascending,
Streaming, screaming, and transcending.

------------------------------------------------------

Piggyback

It was not you,
Who bore the whip,
Nor bore the plough,
Who bore the sweat.
Upon your brow.
It was not you,
Who braved the stone,
Nor braved the heat,
Who cut the stone,
Nice and neat.
No, it was not you,
Who lived here first,
With buffalo,
Nor lost your land,
Your kin in tow.
And it was not you,
Who lived in camps,
While warriors fought,
For the freedom,
Once you sought.

But it was you,
Who piggybacked,
And gathered round,
Crying foul,
From town to town.
And it was you,
Who hitched a ride,
Upon the backs,
Of generations lost,
To fuel attacks.
Oh, but it was you,
Who hopped aboard,
The freedoms gained,
The glories found,
And blood that drained.
And it was you,
Who followed then,
The sheep in line,
Your fork in hand,
For Frankenstein.

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Invino Veritas
4/12/12
EOF

The Seeds of Tomorrow

I love science. Like many people, when I was a little boy, I used to look up at the stars and wonder and theorize about the vastness of space and the thought processes of things like bugs and plants. I would imagine what a rhododendron might say to an ant as it crawled about the petals of its blooms. I wondered if cicadas flying through the air navigated using the stars as placeholders, and imagined shrimp whistling tunes as they foraged for plankton in the seemingly never-ending soup of the ocean. As I got older and I became a little less fantastical about the world and universe that surrounds us, I abandoned these fantasies in search for truth. Each day, more and more as I learned about the world, I became drawn to history and the people that discovered and created constructs of our reality. There were so many people and so many components to the vast body of knowledge that we learned and the even vaster body of knowledge that we did not know. As I tried to back my mind away from the entire population though, it began to seem as if as time moved along, less and less scientific celebrities appeared.

Then I discovered Carl Sagan.

Carl Sagan was many things. He was an astronomer, a cosmologist, an astrophysicist, a novelist, a teacher, and a promoter of the search for extra-terrestrial life. Sagan brought the technical nonsense that oozed from nerdy scientists in white lab coats behind closed doors in government facilities to the living rooms and minds of people like you and me when, in 1980, he hosted the landmark series, Cosmos. Through the wildly popular television show, Sagan translated all the mumbo-jumbo science had to offer, put it into a common and workable form, and gave it an even more common perspective that most anyone could easily translate. Once, more, he gave it all purpose. Cosmos was more than a science program. It was a presentation of the driving force of why science existed, and its part within the human mechanism. In essence, Cosmos was the human interaction and observation of everything that was, is, and might be. This astounded me. Somehow in the bowels of my mind I knew that everything had to fit in line with everything else. There had to be some sort of order to the chaos of the universe. But, up to that point, I had never heard anyone or anything put it in some a viable form as when I began to watch Carl Sagan pull apart the universe and the earth and glue it to the human purpose.

But Carl didn't answer all the questions. Sagan left the entire universe open and still greatly undiscovered. His presentations re-ignited the dreams and wonders of anyone lounged on the couch with a bag of potato chips and a willingness to wonder. Sadly, in 1996, this pioneer of translation, Carl Sagan, died. For a while, some of us wondered if there would ever be another face of the scientific world, a man so knowledgeable and, well, human, to present the hidden world of science to the people again.

Then I discovered Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has become the face and voice bridging the gap between the general population and science and exploration today. Tyson's career, like Sagan, is marked by a number of titles and talents such as astrophysicist, cosmologist, science communicator, teacher, and perhaps even celebrity. Currently, he is the Director at the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan, New York, and has, not one, but ten honorary degrees from a variety of institutions. Author of several book including The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Planet, Death By Black Hole: And Other cosmic Quandaries, and his most recent publication The Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, has racked up formidable resume of guest and TV appearnaces. Seven times he's appeared on The Colbert Report, Six times on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and a number of times he attended Real Time with Bill Maher. He shows up everywhere, and still has time to be the host for PBS's NOVA: scienceNOW.

But Neil deGrasse Tyson is not merely a scientist nor is he merely a celebrity. He has a message to give, and it starts with a dream. In his recent offering to the world, The Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, Tyson shines the spotlight on the importance of the rediscovery and importance of America's space exploration program and NASA. On March 7th of this year, Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked to speak before congress on the future of just these topics. There, Tyson explained to the Science Committee that "...audacious visions have the power to alter mind states, to change assumptions about what is possible, and when a nation allows itself to dream big, these dreams prevail in the citizens' ambitions." But as much as Neil deGrasse Tyson is a student of the present and scientist of the future, he is also a student of history. Noting that the space exploration program and NASA was born out of a national fear and cold war, he goes on to mention that once America decided they had won the space race, we stopped dreaming about discovering new planets and traversing the cosmos. As he asserted quite frankly and with expertly simple articulation, the problems of this country are "...the collective consequence of the absence of ambition that consumes you when you stop having dreams."

Neil deGrasse Tyson gets it. What made this country great was not war and legislation, but rather innovation and opportunity. The seeds of both innovation and opportunity are grown in the dreams and the wonders of children. As those seeds grow and are watered by our environment, the stalks burst forth from their beds, peering at the sky for the first time. Those seeds are the dreams of a new generation who begin to see the possibilities and that there's a place and room for their flowers to grow. They will open their petals to the sky. They will become mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and geologists. They will become teachers, inventors, discoverers, and explorers. It is this next generation that will transform the desert of yesterday into the garden of tomorrow. Yes, we must worry about today, but we cannot continue to ignore tomorrow. Without dreams, there are no ambitions. Without ambitions, there is no progression. Without progression, there are no heroes. And without heroes, humanity becomes unable to realize the possibility of escaping the harshnesses of the world and its environment.

Dare to dream, Neil. Keep spreading the seeds of tomorrow.


Invino Veritas
3/24/12
EOF

Shpongle's Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost: A Dream Come True

It's true that politics isn't by any stretch of the imagination my first love. In fact, love isn't really the right word in the slightest sense of the idea. But today, I turned to something little more easy-going: music. Having found myself recovering from what I believe to be a couple of chicken patties gone "afowl" this weekend, I found myself in an opportunity to listen to an album with which I’ve simple fallen in love over the past few weeks. The truth of the matter is that Shpongle's Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost, while deviating from the usual repertoire that one may typically find emanating through the halls of southern homes and offices, this album is a wonderful, fantastical journey through the minds of Simon Posford and Raja Ram.

Known for their fusion of traditional styles of music from all around the globe, Shpongle does not disappoint their fans with Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost. From the beginning, the listener is dropped into, from somewhere in the atmosphere, into a revolving collage of electronic rhythm and traditional sounds of guitar and drums. Much of the drum work in the background is tribal in some aspect or another as evidenced in tracks like Levitation Nation. Weaving in and out of the ever-changing river of beat are the wonderfully flowing moments in time when the acoustic guitar seems to bounce from flower to flower like a honey bee spreading pollen and gathering nectar. But just when the moment reaches a climax, the scene melts into a strange dream state evoking visions of the New Delhi skyline from across the Ganges River such as with the momentary interlude of Periscopes of Consciousness.

Not long after wading through the shallows of the famous Indian river, Posford and Ram continue the journey through the streets and nightlife of India as the listener's essence float through the heart of the cityscape to the edge of the surrounding areas. The continuous, winding rhythm leads the listener on a strange bus ride along the edges strange mental solitude as if the Indian moonrise blows a kiss to say goodbye to the daylight and welcome the evening. As we travel outside the walls and bustle of population, Shpongle interjects the central theme of the album that, according to William Blake, nothing is lost, like a strange American guide whispering in the ear of the traveller, interpreting the surrounding environments. Suddenly, everything slows down and begins to shutter. With the introduction of what seems like a second phase to Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost, When Shall I Be Free? accompanies the small party of travelers echoing that same question and reaching a rhetoric softly reminding one's ears that the journey is not over yet.

Posford and Ram at this point, step up to the plate and bring back some Western influence, taking the listener out of Asian landscape with a chorus of horns, drums, and guitar reminiscent of both Central and North American culture in The Stamen of the Shaman. But after a short stay in Panama, so to speak, the journey continues, reaching the shores of Africa where can be heard the momentary songs of the native peoples. But so as to not let us forget our roots, Shpongle lets one float into a groove of apprehension that begins to add layer after layer of electronic injections to the mix as tracks like Linguistic Mystic and Mentalism enter the scene. The momentary lapse in Africa is curtailed prematurely, though, as the voyage makes its way back into Asia with the album's fourteenth track, Invocation. For some reason unknown to the world traveler here, Shpongle bounces us to the heavens above the world in another mixture of rhythm like a child's toy ball, stopping briefly at a zenith made of more electronic tone and traditional Western rhythm before dropping back to the Earth with Turn Up The Silence. As the moment passes, the descent back to the ground below takes place just before the seventeenth track, Exhalation, strikes its first note.

As Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost comes to close with its last three tracks, the dream begins to dissolve somewhat as an odd awakening takes place. The sudden transformation brings memories of that untimely sleep that gets interrupted, and that feeling of stepping out into the cool, windy openness of the world with that dreadful physical fatigue one feels at those times - the air feels chillier than normal, and the racing particles of air seem coarser than usual. But the feeling is only temporary, as the reality comes into focus and our limbs shake off the previous attempts at rest. Both electric and acoustic guitars begin to drive the music as we get back into our normal rhythm here in our normal state and relax, slipping into an old pair of shoes. As the twentieth and final track suggests, the listener is finally Falling Awake.

Shpongle's Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost is a fantastic piece of music eclipsing their previous efforts,  Are You Shpongled? and Tales Of The Inexpressible. Simon Posford and Raja Ram truly outperform even themselves on this wonderful offering to the world. Obviously meant to be listened to in its entirety and in order, the fabric of this album is one tapestry that takes us around the world in a meditation of culture and sound. Unlike so many other psychedelic trance or dance albums, I don't feel as if this album is meant for the likes of a rave or dance club. Actually, I find myself using this album, continually looping it from end to end, as I play video games and during the repetitive job of a technician. It allows my mind to settle and focus, and provides a relaxing undertone to the job before me, no matter how frivolous it may appear.

Good album. Check it out.

Invino Veritas
3/12/12
EOF