"Well... I guess if you aren't part of the ruling class? If you aren't a politician, if you aren't one of the most untrustworthy people on the planet, then moral integrity is something to be celebrated?"
But then I think a little further.
"Oh wait, many celebrities don't posess any real moral integrity. Having divorces to sell magazines. Their entire job revolves around lies, scandals, the gossip which drives that great media machine. So maybe, as long as you aren't part of the ruling class, or a celebrity, moral integrity is something to be celebrated?"
Still thinking, door after door opens up.
"Oh, wait. Businessmen are often unethical, betraying the moral framework contructed in their youth in order to persue a profit. Joe Hockey protested against the abolishion of free university education, and look at him now. Okay so, moral integrity is something to be celebrated as long as your aren't: a politician, celebrity or businessman? Right?"
Dissatisfaction.
"But that doesn't work either! Just looking at France, two generations ago they were banning short skirts, and now I guess they're banning long skirts? Banning people covering up their skin? I swear showing skin was considered immoral not too long ago, in fact to some it still is. So maybe moral integrity is celebrated if you aren't part of the popular opinion? Or a politician? Or a celebrity? Or a businessman?"
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| Morality, modesty, what do they actually mean? Jufnitz - Reddit. |
Do you see the problem here?
People talk about goodness, as if it's an immovable code of laws, standing strong against the winds of time. And yet, time and time again we see that morality can be warped and altered.
Just as ideas live and die, so too can morals and ethics
Like whispers on the back of a butterfly, they flutter amongst the masses of opinion. All it takes is a destabilising event, a gust of wind, and the whole operation plunges into the ground.
With this thought in mind, and this perception: "Morality is fickle." Entrepreneurialism is just a little bit more terrifying.
What are you really trying to do? Create an ethical product. Create something which will change the world? Do something good? Entrepreneurialism isn't just about the idea, but the implementation.
Your freedom is limitless.
Anything you do can be seen as ethical.
Anything you do can be seen as immoral.
Just imagine, you have a bright idea to improve the quality of society in every way. You can increase productivity, lower the government's spenditure on healthcare, improve the education system and reduce poverty and inequality. Just imagine how that idea would be received? Everybody would do it, it would become a trend which would sweep the entire world! And it did. In the 1930s eugenics was an integral part of government policy in most developed nations on Earth.
And then the war began.
The creators of this bright idea were were shunned, dismembered and left broken and bleeding in this new, post-war world.
This morum-mutatio, this drastic shift in morality, is not rare. And neither you nor I are safe from its effects. Any and all of our ambitious projects, any attempts at touching the silver coulds of success, come with the deep rumble of this sleeping demon, a soft reminder that at any time we could be crucified for the ideas we hold.
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| The birth of Rashidun and the spread of Islam. The definition of morality in Arabia was changed for ever. Wikimedia Foundation. |
Maybe we should all handle our morals lightly? Maybe we should be ready to sprint away from contention?
Or maybe we should hold our ground?
I personally believe, in the end, if you aren't doing it because it makes you feel good, whatever that could mean, then that rumbling demon will eat you alive.
Morality is fickle. You freedom is limitless. Beware the morum-mutatio. And keep on running.
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