Insight

Being nice isn't what ethics is about

Outside on my balcony, while savoring a cold beer, I inadvertently became subjected to the utterances of my neighbors upstairs, who sounded like they were my age.

They were joyfully discussing movies they had seen this summer and were in consensus that "Wedding Crashers" was their favorite film.

In a nutshell, they were endeared to the characters' struggle to find "true love."

I can't help but wonder that Generation Y appreciates a narrative about two grifters in their thirties who scam the unsuspecting women they meet and supplant ideas of love.

They reap what they sow and, inevitably, dump them for the next cute, cheap thrill. There is a brief moment when Owen Wilson's character says, "Hey, man, I think this is a little sleazy." When his mentor of this wedding crashing 'technique' then shows him the exquisite joy of crashing funerals, even his chagrin doesn't prevent him from partaking in the conquest of charade.

Don't get me wrong; I have no problems at all, ethically, with casual sex.

Pleasure is not at issue here. Pretense to pleasure is problematic. Feigning sincerity in your feelings for a person seems unabashedly popular with those in my age group. The justification is that "Hey! We're young and we are, after all, still good people inside. The outside is me just having fun."

We believe, as a generation, that being ethical is accomplished simply by saying, "I am a good person."

No! This is what's wrong.

Being ethical is doing the right thing when it is most inconvenient. By indulging in opportunities to deceive others we manipulate them for our pleasure. Yet, we may still avoid contention within ourselves. Are we still good people?

Consider the road less taken,

The Aristotelian model observes a good person is one who performs essential functions that test character. In this, we are products of self-discipline, which drives us to a virtue that thrives in excellence. The journey to mastering one's character is not a destination by default.

A person is what they do, not what they say they are. These functions are an end within themselves.

I will not be completely unfair to the "feel good hit of the summer" and will say that by the end of the movie the main characters redeem themselves, learn the error of their ways and live happily ever after with the women they met through their excursions into young, irresponsible fun.

I must confess, I laughed. Hey, it's a movie-a Hollywood fabrication of reality, and all those usual things people will say to dispel our preoccupation with the media view of our popular culture.

I disagree. Movies are an important part of our culture. How we see them is how we see ourselves.