Where are the ethics?

Dear Leo, Yes ethics seem to be going down the tube.But in reality they are not.You are only one of millions that believe in right & wrong.Sometimes it's difficult not to break ones ethics.I live in Thailand.I tried to get in touch with a Microsoft company to buy a legal Windows program.Was uinable to locate one.Tried the Internet & sent them a request to purchase a Windows program.No answer.People do try to be honest.I really think if the entertainment Industry was not so greedy more people would purchase legal CD's & Movies & not copies.Most of us out here are not rich & our money is hard to come by.I no. No excuse. Any thanks for all of your help in solving so many of my computer problems.
Raymond

Your "I could just cry!" really struck a chord with me. Life would be so much nicer if we could trust everyone. As we were growing up, that was the actual case for many of us -- because our parents effectively screened the people we came into contact with and associated with.

But, as we age we discover that there is an element of our race that has sociopathic tendencies; i.e. -- they think only of themselves, and not of others. The sociopathic are about 5 percent of our society; but they sure appear to be more widespread than that. This is because a disproportionate percentage of our public figures are part of this group. Sociopaths gravitate to positions of influence and power. At times it seems like society has gone to hell, and everybody but us has abandoned morality. But it simply isn't the case; it just seems that way.

I am not implying that a majority of public figures are dishonest. Far from it. Many are motivated by a great desire to be of service -- to help others. I am claiming, however, that amongst public figures one will find about 20 percent who are sociopathic; that is, four times more than the run-of-the-mill population. So ... our good leaders are especially plagued by this disproportionate level of sociopathic behavior. And these sociopaths are the reason many people label all public figures as scoundrels! What a price the good ones pay for their attempts to help us!

But you are right to cry! All humanity should be crying for a "fix" that would cause man's inhumanity to man to cease. Some place their hope in religion. Others in evolution. Others in discovering the culprit gene. And still others in society.

The great danger is that a society desperate for a more moral society will actually propigate even greater inhumanity in trying to weed out the "weeds" of society. Morally motivated purges are a strong part of mankind's history.

So...just continue to be your good, moral self. Helping others is one of the highest forms of morality. And know that there are 19 out of 20 others out there who feel just as you do. Many of us could just cry too!

Some believe that there are basic instinct genes for some morality aspects. However, civilization largely depends upon social interaction to communicate the behavior norms which permit society to work. Morals and manners, for better or for worse, are learned from our parents and peers.

Well, looking for that quote by P.T. Barnum the great man of the P.T. Barnum circus on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.t._barnum
They say that he NEVER said "A fool is born everyminute..." .In Hebrew we have a saying : "Available fools never cease, they just change places with each other after being burnt".
Shades of the Madden Ponzi Scheme, steroid muscle builders in sports. I loved the comments above, but it seems that technology has widened the ability to "Fool all the people some of the time".
thank You Leo for your great help in weeding out the weeds from the garden.

The principle at work in ethics is free will.
The internet has given many the access,denied billions of forebears, to info and advice- as well as scamming routes.
The free will that 'good' people use is balanced by the increase in 'bad' moves- from others less enlightened.
It's just Yin-Yang, Leo! -Good luck..

I need to crack a web site called ask-Leo and was wondering if you could help me? I intend to steal his Latte money (although I wouldn't drink that kind of thing).
Leo, I for one appreciate an honest man/woman. People like you are very high on my "trusted" list. Thank you.
I cried when Dick Nixon was exposed as a liar. Up 'til then I had always accepted that my President would not lie to me. Adulthood is a b**ch.
I'm suspicious enough not to open that email that says I won $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
However, I am concerned that you aren't getting enough legit q's, so: How do I deceive, steal, hack or hide from the repercussions of questionable activity?

I know exactly what you mean because I have the knowledge but do not have a degree i am considered the Hacker to everyone I know and they ask stupid things like that to me too.I was even ask why I am legally attending a college now after 20 years, so brother you are not alone.It does not even seem to matter that I am bonded for a local security firm I constantly get the 'well can't you get this or that for free for me' or 'get into this or that account'.
I have thought if they would put as much time and energy into learning how to do what I do then they would have a better appreciation maybe but I guess that is why we know what we do SELF DISCIPLINE and MORALS.That is a good thing because the constant nagging creates stress as defined by the Marine Corp.... The overwhelming urge to choke the snot out of a soul and your brain says no while your muscle fibers slowly try to override !
So my heart goes out to you.

When we speak about Ethics, we are referring to right conduct. But whose conduct? By whose standards? Yesterday an "X-rated" movie is a "PG-Rated" movie today. Once, I was called "Sir" or "Mr". Today I am called "Bro" or "dude". I hear phrases such as, "Hay man, he is really 'bad'." But today's interpretation is quite the opposite, believing that bad represents good and good, bad. All of these examples find us imperceptibly changing---the world's acceptance of its behavior has no plumb bob of righteousness. The standard of excellence, the standard of what is right in the heart has always been changing. We believe what our itching ears want to hear, and if a little bit of light gets on us, we slink down into the chair for fear that it might expose the darkness of our hearts. We polish up our shoes in the hope that no one knows where we've been. We candy-coat our lives with lies and false pretenses and deceit we are unaware of. We nod our heads and continue reading the morning paper, sticking our forks into our plates, and wiping our faces satisfied that everything is wonderful. But little do we know that we are next to open graves, oblivious. Right conduct is only a concept, and we have lost an awareness of what responsibility and accountability are---that we are indeed our brother's keeper who watches out for one another. We have lost sight of a standard of what is right and wrong, and turn our heads as if one never existed. And our own history that we are making each day finds us unable to mock what we have done, for we are reaping what we sow.

What ethics? It is a word without meaning to most, choosing to veil the world mirror so that it does not have to torment over what it has done to itself. We would do well to cry, and hope that we are heard.

It does seem that morals and ethics are losing ground, but the internet has made it easy for people to make comments anonymously, saying things that they would never say to a person's face (they might get punched in the mouth; no one likes pain!) There are always people who are cons, manipulative, sleazy, criminals, drunks, addicts, abusive, jealous of your success, etc. Avoid them!

With all respect to Dave, if you believe that humans have evolved over millions of years,and if after all that time man hasn't suddenly become "good," then surely a few more eons won't make it so.