(November 25, 2017 at 3:03 pm)Hammy Wrote: Yeah. And what if the morally correct answer is the unpopular or "anti-social" one?
Racism used to be common, and the norm, and when people spoke out against racism that was initially unpopular, but it was certainly morally correct to speak out against. It's not that racism used to be okay but became morally correct once the norm changed, it has always been wrong and moral progress has been made.
But.... I would say the reason that ratting on someone goes against a societal norm is different from why racism used to be a norm. I think snitching is, and always will be, unpopular because it is an individual's act to weaken a group for personal gain. Unless we see some Orwellian abolition of groups and families, no one's going to like snitches. And frankly I don't think that would be a good thing: perhaps if you take a objective approach it's more fair, but from the perspective of an individual I would be miserable were I unable to trust people. As humans we from birth weave relationships to create trust, to give ourselves leverage and power and support. It's a mutually beneficial process.
Also I think it would be impossible to move away from this model because there's something of an evolution towards the power lying with groups that could effectively consolidate it. Look at the 2 party system in America, or huge corporations like Walmart. As long as there is power in monopoly or oligopoly, these groups will prevail and write rules and norms that favour themselves.
