OPINION:
The pessimists among us insist that all traces of moral behavior have disappeared from the nation’s politics, that lying and stealing and soliciting bribes (sometimes called “contributions” if to a closely held family foundation) have become the reason that men and even women seek to become president of the United States. In this view, we’re halfway back to Hobbes, the 16th-century English philosopher who observed that “the condition of man … is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.”
The bleak evidence of that lies all around us, but surely Hobbes is too harsh and unforgiving of unredeemed man. Besides, there’s reassuring contradictory evidence. Maybe morality is more important to modern man than thoughtful skeptics and unredeemed cynics think. Maybe morality has survived.
The good news is that millions of Americans are examining themselves, to see whether they’re personally moral or not. There’s a unique test of personal morality floating around on social media, that unexcelled internet repository of grace, scholarship and generosity of concern for others, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day. Maybe the old orb isn’t quite done yet, if we can conjure a revival of morality before global warming drowns the polar bears, puts lower Manhattan under water and consigns us to the hurricane of the week.
This internet test, designed to measure whether the test-taker is really as moral as he thinks he is, asks only one question, and if honestly answered will reveal where he stands on a scale that Hobbes would recognize.
The test-taker is told to imagine himself in a situation requiring a life or death decision. You’re a prize-winning photographer with the assignment of a lifetime, alone on the scene with your cameras. Your colleagues all missed the bus. Since only you will see the result, the required absolute honesty is not so difficult. Here’s the quandary:
You’re watching with horror the last ravages of a killer hurricane. A flood of biblical proportion is making rivers, creeks and bayous run wildly out of their banks, with the debris of houses, splintered trees and all manner of flotsam and jetsam roaring toward a destination of destruction and death.
Suddenly you see a figure in the water, struggling and fighting for life, a woman about to go under for the third time, flailing about in what looks like the shreds of a pantsuit. Suddenly, you recognize her as one of the most famous and powerful women in the world, familiar of face and figure. She’s waving frantically for your attention with the last of her ebbing strength.
You have two choices. You can save a life, or shoot a dramatic photograph certain to win the Pulitzer Prize and assure you of darkroom immortality. Your photograph will be on the front page of every newspaper in America and the world. It’s decision time, and it’s the hardest decision of your life. Here’s the question. Be honest:
“Would you select high-contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?”
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