Changes in Ethics |
An
Upside Down World It is not only the Jewish World that changed, it is the alteration of our entire universe. From our Talmud we can read and learn much wisdom. This can be authenticated with the expression: “In unserem Talmud kann man vieles lesen und alles ist schon einmal da gewesen” (In our Talmud you can read a great deal and all that we read there has already occurred). The
years between nineteen hundred and two thousand twelve have changed our
universe, its inhabitants and their beliefs, actions and expectations
enormously. We not only have
altered the concept of ethics, or lack thereof, we have changed our convictions,
if indeed they exist. We have constructed means where all we need to do is
press a button on an electronic device and it will tell us what we need to
expect, to know and to do. Technology
is used to sanction whatever we wish or not wish our actions to be.
Manipulation and a nonexistent conscience is sanctioned in the twentieth
plus century. The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism as described by Max Weber
is no longer in the forefront. This book and its wisdom have disappeared in the
unread back stacks of ancient literature. Reading
and research have become efforts of the past, since computers and their
attachments have taken their place. People
are declaring themselves disabled at the expense of their fellow citizens who
need to work twice as hard to support the new, modern breed of humanity. They no
longer have to exert themselves to live the “good life.” We can sit in our
armchairs, push buttons, see movies and collect governmental funds.
If we do not want to make the effort to exert ourselves, we can collect
ninety-nine weeks of income from the government (funds from those who are still
willing to do a day’s work). Those
relatively few in our population who exert themselves are considered old
fashioned, misinformed and “cheap.” Through
governmental controls and enormous taxes, they are forced to support the
governmental bureaucrats and the relaxed masses who look on with envy that the
ambitious folks have one television more than they.
Sympathetic feelings do not exist among these dregs of society.
They do not remember the adage “Ohne Fleiss, kein Preis” (Without
ambition, no reward). Another
ancient Germanic European language saying was:
“Wer da trinkt und frisst wird Polizist” (Whoever eats and drinks
becomes the police), namely the overseer
(in our country it’s the politician). It is similar to the phrase: The rabbit
as gardener. The
myth of Sisyphus describes the feeling of those who still work and are forced by
governmental controls to support those who enjoy the “good life,” the so
called free spirits whose psyche does not allow the word exertion/work to enter
their vocabulary. Sisyphus was a man who rolled a rock up a hill and of course
it rolled down again and again, as the law of physics tells us.
This is in effect the story of the hard working person who supports the
envious “riffraff” of society. The
eternal adult infants who desire unconditional love, acceptance, other
people’s income, material goods and comforts without exerting any effort!
Those who take away a large portion of the hardworking people’s earnings
through taxation have no feelings and no conscience about the theft that they
have perpetrated. Lehitraot. Dr. Ursula A. Falk is a psychotherapist in private practice and the author of several books and articles. |