Ideas - Ethics, and thier impact on society

recently I had a couple of ethics related discussion with different groups of people.

First we were discussing about paying taxes. There is this general attitude, in Italy according to which it is not RIGHT not to try to evade taxes, but if you do try that you are not to be condemend, because, you know, and here the list of excuses gets fantastically long:

- Because they are too high (typical from norh/ northeastern Italy)
- Because everybody and above all our politicians steal money so why should I be the only idiot? (typical from south Italy, especially campania...)
- Because what has the state done for me? (typical for italians who studied or worked abroad...)
- Because I work to make this money, so why should I let someone to take that money without giving me anything (typical of professionals...)

and bla bla bla. To me this is completely WRONG - it feels UNETHICAL

The other discussion has been about making money. In short there was a business model that originally was aimed at offering a service to a group of people and getting payment by those who were selling (and thus making profits) to this group of people.

The new idea in the business model was to use data taken from this activity to sell it to the second group (the sellers), and that would have helped this group of sellers to work as a cartel (look for it on wikipedia if you have not clear what it is). And this was not an opinion, since economics theory supported me.

In this way, since we were helping the creation of the cartel, to the detriment of the buyers, I believed that the business model was unfair to them. was UNETHICAL for me.

Now...what do this two examples have in common? A simple thing...your definition of ETHICS.

Ethics, in my view, is a code of conduct, a set of behaviours that you feel are right or wrong. It is personal and since it defines your personality and self consideration at deepest possible level, it should be handled with care, and with as much inflexibility as you can reasonably do.

Given that, it is useless to argue on ethics viewpoint. Since these are values that you should not compromise, they leave you no space of negotiation and therefore no space for any type of discussion.

Moreover, you should not give up on them, when they are challenged. They define you, so why should you let them go, unless you have a really low self esteem?

In conclusion...think about your ethics. Give yourself rules and abide to them (but never forget: ethics is something unflexible: rules, can be amended when needed). Be always open to any proposal and any point of view, but do not step back on an ethics discussion. The moment you will infringe your own code of laws (that may or may not overlap with external code of laws) is the moment you betray yourself and lose control of your life. It almost happened to me and consequences were...unpleasant.

Going back to the two examples...on paying taxes you might all be right in having a reason for not paying. But according to my ETHICS, it is unethical to pay them. It is unethical because you reduce the amount of resources available to the country, therefore you reduce the money that can be spent in schools, police, hospital, research, infrastructure. AND NOT THE MONEY THAT GOES TO POLITICIANS. I am truly disgusted by the italian ruling class...but DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT BY NOT PAYING TAXES YOU PUNISH THEM? Stop to think for a little...if you are a thief and out of 100 you steal 30 and use 70 for the state services...if the total availbel becomes 50 because we stop paying taxes - do you think they will steal less? NO!!!THEY WILL MAINTAIN THEIR LIFESTYLE ALREADY ACQUIRED, by keeping on stealing 30, but now out of 50. therefore, before the state had a budget of 70, now of 20. Say goodbye to safety, public schools, research, infrastructure. And do not complain when you will have to wait 8 hours in an emergency room at the hospital - it is also YOUR fault.

My ethics tells me: do not damage others. And if you share the same view (and many would say they do), so why don't you behave accordingly?

(By this I do not mean we should not be angry. WE MUST BE ANGRY. But so angry to start to change the society. In positive)

I read an article that not only yawning but also smiling is contagious. The difference is that smiling is a totally consicent choice - an exchange pretty much. If I smile to you nicely, you will probably smile back to thank me of the gesture. Same thing if I am polite. If I help you to get off a train. If I say HI nicely.

Therefore, virtuous behaviors, create virtuos circle, the same way as bad behaviours create vicious spirals.

Many (not to say most) of us have positive ethics, but than they perform poorly in applying them. When you act, think about the consequences. For you (is it along what I believe in or not) and for the others.

Sorry, it's really a messy post, but the subject is really complex!!!