Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Morality

A few weeks ago, I left a lab manual for one of my classes in the room after I left, and it was gone when I went back for it. It's nothing incredibly important, but I does cost 30 bucks, so I held off buying a new one. I did yesterday get around to going to the lost and found of the building, and checking to see if it had been turned in.

When I got there, I found another lab manual, exact same as mine, and it was found in the very same room. However, looking through it, I saw the writing was not mine. So, regretfully, I told the person it wasn't mine, and she took down my name and number and what I was missing, to give to her boss who was out to lunch.

I left, figuring maybe sometime I'd get be contacted. However, I got an email today, informing me that they have a lab manual, and to come get it. Now, either one of two things happened. One, unlikely, another one was turned in in less than 24 hours. In which case, going to get it, it might be mine even, problem solved. However, the much more likely case is that the person I talked to didn't inform the person in charge that the one they have isn't mine.

Now, the question of morality begins. On one hand, it is not mine, and so I should not take it no matter what. However, there are other things to consider. First being, I have already told them once that it is not mine, and they are still saying come take it. Second, the lab manual they have has been their for about 2 weeks so far, and was brought in around the same time as I lost mine. Third, I lost mine in the first place, and so I wouldn't really be gaining something, I would be getting back to equal, making up what I lost. Also, since it was lost at the same time that mine was, and still hasn't been reclaimed, it suggests the possibility that someone just took mine instead of theirs, and still has it.

All of this suggests to me that I should in fact take it. However, none of that changes the fact that it is not mine, and so I'm not sure.

I faced a similar situation, ironically enough, just a few weeks ago. Last semester, I lost a calculator, just a simply scientific calculator, 20 bucks. A couple weeks ago, I saw one sitting on a chair, no people around. I immediately thought, hey, I should take this, it'll make up for the one I lost. However, I dismissed that because someone else would no longer have one, and I didn't wish that on a person. However, I didn't want to leave it, because I knew if I did, it would be taken by someone else, and the owner still wouldn't get it back. So, I sat down and waited for about 15 min, to see if he or she would show up. No such luck, no one came. So, I took it. However, I left in the same place, a note with my contact info, and a little explanation of how I'd found it and to call me.

No one did end up calling, but I know that I did make a legit attempt to get it back to the owner. What I would like is to find a solution to my current problem that is as good as that, where I get the thing, but without being immoral. However, I don't know if it is possible. I am going to talk to the lady today, and see if she did possibly find a different one or not. I'd love some advice, if you'd be so kind as to leave a comment.
 

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Fred Phelps - Hate Mongerer

I have been reading recently about a man named Fred Phelps. Basically, one could call him the anti-christ, except that would indicate power along with utter evil. Phelps, no, he is just evil, and deserving of contempt. He is a hate-mongeror, who has targeted groups as diverse as Sweden, Army Veterans, homosexuals, and even victims of the Minneapolis I-35W bridge collapse.

Ironically, he started out good, as many people do, as a lawyer fighting Jim Crow laws. However, he has become fanatical in his homophobia, attacking everyone who is even tolerant, denouncing everyone.

He hates Sweden, and has said the heavy Swedish losses in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, initially overestimated to be near 20,000, were "God's punishment of Sweden for the promotion of homosexuality".

He created www.godhatesireland.com, (which thankfully is no longer online) to "expose Ireland as the Emerald (now Pink) Isle of the Sodomite Damned, –saturated with fags and dykes at every level of society and government."

He supported Saddam Hussein, although later declared that Hussein was in Hell now.

He worst crimes in my oppinion, are picketing funerals of US Soldiers. He and his bastard "church" go to funerals, citing freedom of speech, and then yell and taunt the mourners.

Now, to an anarchist, this solution is simple. If he came to a funeral of someone in my family, and yell at me that that person was in Hell, along with other things, I'd simply show he was wrong by letting him see Hell for himself. However, as a rational person, I have to ask myself, despite the fact that he would deserve it, killing him, or them, wouldn't be worth giving up the rest of my life. And, sadly, that is what would happen, because the Law doesn't recognize killing as different than murder except in self-defense cases.

What really makes me happy though, is one of the events Phelps was picketing more recently. Students at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prarie Village, Kansas, voted for Matthew Pope as their homecoming king last year. Last Friday, Pope returned for a ceremoney, and Phelps, along with several members of his "congregation" showed up to picket. However, the students fought back, with a massive counter-protest over over 450 people. Thank God for highschoolers, right? Here is a video of the Counter-Protest, from the blog Classically Liberal: