Morality Essay, Research Paper
Morality is the cooperation of the part to the whole in order to instill conformity in everyone. How does society place morality on people? One of the major methods is through religion. Using the Devil as a catharsis, the single-shared belief in some type of God brings people together in conformity, ethically. Another method is the media. Through movies, we see beautiful people say and do things that we deem to be flawless. We strive to be like the stars, because we admire them. Whether it be religion or television, the single greatest moral lesson is this: reciprocity. Reciprocity is the act of treating other people the way you would like them to treat you. Both jesus and Confucius said this lesson, so it is not some convoluted western ideal. It is the base of morality today. From there on, killing is bad because one would not like to be killed. Stealing is bad because one would not like to be stolen from. Whatever we consider bad, it is because we do not want others to do that to us. When they do, however, we become angry and feel no more compel to perform reciprocity. Of course, when this happens, society calls it a sin. Then it is necessary to repent and pay for them.
This is the function that religion succeeds at but the media fails. Since the media is not a vehicle for forgiveness, people who worship it feel frustrated and murder those who do not live up to the ideal television character. This is why there is so much disillusionment today.