How Can We Tell What Is Good

Or Bad? Essay, Research Paper

How Can We Tell What Is Good Or Bad?

To tell what is good or bad, a person needs to consider what he or she

considers to be morally sound and immoral. A persons morals are taught by their

parents and from the society from which they are raised.

Society is not worried about what is good or bad, but how to obtain

money and power. Money and power can dilute the values of what people judge

morally right. While the moral way of living would be to work a normal forty

hour week to earn income, the easy and immoral way is to lie and cheat in their

occupation to obtain promotions and benefits. Aristotle said,

Every art and every “scientific investigation”, as well as every action

and “purposive choice,” appears to aim at some good, hence the good

has rightly been declared that which all things aim (Aristotle, 517).

Today society is not aimed at good. This society has become a “me” society.

People are thinking of “me,me,me” rather than thinking of the good of others.

This society has found it acceptable for a football superstar to be found with

an illegal drug to depart the judicial system with probation and again to play

football. This is a true example of how people today in our society live their

dreams through celebrities. People idolize immoral sport stars instead of

holding in a higher regard common everyday people, who are God fearing, hard

working, and ethically moral.

While in this society it is hard to tell what is true, it is also hard

when compared with other societies. For example, some European countries have

legalized the use of mild drugs. These countries have attributed this toward

less crime. Putting the question of right or wrong on the individual rather

than, in our case, the government. In America the majority consider

legalization of drugs wrong, but has it really worked our way? Are not alcohol

and tobacco just as dangerous, causing mind altering effects, attributing to

deaths and diseases everyday? Why are not these illegal? The reason is because

people in our society hold a higher regard for the “almighty dollar” rather than

the safety and health of their fellow man! Apparently this society has a

double-standard. On one hand advertising and sending messages telling kids to

“Don’t Do Drugs”, but on the other hand televising, for all the world to hear, a

president admitting to smoking marijuana and hearing him laugh about it. This

society expects the best out of kids, but rewards people who take shortcuts.

Showing kids it is easier to live an immoral life rather than a moral one!

What is good or bad is a decision made by each individual. For one

person it might be that he considers marijuana an acceptable part of life, for

another it might be that abortion is immoral and against every thing that person

believes. How a person decides is his or her prerogative either influenced by

his society or his upbringing. Personally I believe our society, America,

should get back to being a god-fearing society. We need to as individuals of

this society elect a government with ethics and morals instead of on the amount

an individual has of money and power. Society needs to worry about the problems

confronting them at home rather than concerning themselves with problems from

other societies. Basically this societies government needs to show it cares,

which will in turn be seen by people and possibly practiced!