Voices of conscience: why do some people take moral stands?

[jimsenchuk]

Why do people stand up for their principles, even when the results could lose them their jobs, or even their lives?

That's the question author Eyal Press asks in Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times.

A Swiss Police Commander disobeys orders and helps hundreds of Jewish refugees escape from Austria to Switzerland in 1938. A Serbian man saves his Croatian neighbours from abuse in a Serbian detention camp in the early 1990s. And a financial broker turns whistleblower after being fired for trying to prevent fraud.

There are many examples of evil lurking in conformity, when regular citizens stand by while others are in jeopardy. The characters in this book defy those stereotypes and stand against authority and apathy.

The book explores the psychology and science behind these ethical decisions - and Mr Press explains to the BBC why when the going gets tough, the tough stand their ground.

Source and Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17387818

I really enjoyed this article.

[Glacier]

More importantly, why don't some people take moral stands?

[Queen K]

More, more importantly, how do moral standards come to differ so widely?

[motorhomebabe]

More, more importantly, how do moral standards come to differ so widely?

Thats one i have never been able to understand. How difficult is it to tell right from wrong?

[Type_O]

Taken from the on-line "free dictionary"
mor·al (môrl, mr-)
adj.
1. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character: moral scrutiny; a moral quandary.
2. Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character and behavior: a moral lesson.
3. Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous: a moral life.
4. Arising from conscience or the sense of right and wrong: a moral obligation.
5. Having psychological rather than physical or tangible effects: a moral victory; moral support.
6. Based on strong likelihood or firm conviction, rather than on the actual evidence: a moral certainty.
n.
1. The lesson or principle contained in or taught by a fable, a story, or an event.
2. A concisely expressed precept or general truth; a maxim.
3. morals Rules or habits of conduct, especially of sexual conduct, with reference to standards of right and wrong: a person of loose morals; a decline in the public morals.

Unfortunately, I tend to lean towards complete abandonment, #6. This gets me in trouble.

[SassySasquatch]

Or a more (x3) important question may be why do not more people assume and exhibit this profound act of humanity?

[Lady tehMa]

because to do means they would have to consider others before themselves, and that is currently out of fashion.

Entitlement is the order of the day, and "whatever I want I can have". This is not conducive to morality, most entitled folk find it an incovenient restraint on their lifestyle.

[SassySasquatch]

...understood but how can one pass an individual obviously to the need of human compassion yet still passes by. Cannot you (I) stop, say hello and just try to make sure they won't perish in the few blessed moments before you pass them again? That makes no sense does it? Or what?

[coffeeFreak]

Has anyone seen ABC What Would You Do? Here are just two of many scenarios played out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOHC6vNm-HI&feature=relmfu[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rIrTMzhE4o&feature=related[/youtube]

[kina]

Thanks for your post coffeeFreak. Very well picked videos.