Justice and Blame
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 2:13 pm
Blame and Justice are often tangled together, and it’s unlikely that anyone could ever approach ethics in any other way than as a fantasy. Justice is a game that involves finding fault with entire social systems. You can’t really find fault with anything other than the whole of existence. The blame is not on any one thing, including oneself. Blame is generally a moral instinct, but it is a very poor one. Justice is simply a creative act that is born out of a highly critical self awareness. Wherever we see justice, we see a form of strength subjugating a form of weakness. Justice is blame taken to such an impersonal level that large sections of humanity get roasted.
We flash our teeth at others in an overly moral context often because we are compensating for some part of our character that has been overly criminal, overly fearful, overly guilty, ashamed, or overly insecure. Moral disdain becomes a kind of compensatory weapon. John Lennon had this problem, as it’s been well documented that he was physically abusive to his wives and psychologically abusive to his son.
Therefore, "the posture of ethics" is often the result of heightened sensitivity to crime through experiencing it first hand. To John Lennon's credit (and the many people like him) not everyone who behaves criminally tries to compensate. There are times where justice means seeing ones own compensation as positive. Also, moral compensation is often born from being victimized. Only after we feel victimized do we develop a sharp moral sense.
Of course, presenting oneself as overly ethical is sometimes the natural posture of someone who is naturally sensitive to moral ugliness. Such persons don’t need to be criminal or to be victimized in order to show consistent moral concern. This is a rare condition of psychological health. The highest state of health is applying the spirit of justice as a creative fantasy, born out of a critical spirit that seeks reformation. Nobody is to blame and nothing is taken personally. Faults are seen not in people, but in the assumptions that dictate the behavior of the people. As the population suffers through it’s vanity being stuck with a sword, the moral health of the species undergoes a rebirth into higher levels of order.
We flash our teeth at others in an overly moral context often because we are compensating for some part of our character that has been overly criminal, overly fearful, overly guilty, ashamed, or overly insecure. Moral disdain becomes a kind of compensatory weapon. John Lennon had this problem, as it’s been well documented that he was physically abusive to his wives and psychologically abusive to his son.
Therefore, "the posture of ethics" is often the result of heightened sensitivity to crime through experiencing it first hand. To John Lennon's credit (and the many people like him) not everyone who behaves criminally tries to compensate. There are times where justice means seeing ones own compensation as positive. Also, moral compensation is often born from being victimized. Only after we feel victimized do we develop a sharp moral sense.
Of course, presenting oneself as overly ethical is sometimes the natural posture of someone who is naturally sensitive to moral ugliness. Such persons don’t need to be criminal or to be victimized in order to show consistent moral concern. This is a rare condition of psychological health. The highest state of health is applying the spirit of justice as a creative fantasy, born out of a critical spirit that seeks reformation. Nobody is to blame and nothing is taken personally. Faults are seen not in people, but in the assumptions that dictate the behavior of the people. As the population suffers through it’s vanity being stuck with a sword, the moral health of the species undergoes a rebirth into higher levels of order.