IMHO, why whites voting for whites and blacks voting for blacks can be morally different.

CTLawGuy

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed May-21-08 06:19 PM
Original message

IMHO, why whites voting for whites and blacks voting for blacks can be morally different.

In my estimation the morality of any conduct can be divided into 4 categories (1 being the most "moral" and 4 being the most "immoral"), which I illustrate through an example:

Imagine a kid in school who sees a group of bullies picking on a small kid he doesn't know. What roads can he take?

1. IDEAL CONDUCT
There are several acceptable options if he sees these bullies. The "ideal" option is the most "right" or "moral" option, the course of action your mother would tell you to take. In an ideal case, the kid would go over to the bullies and tell them to stop, and then tell an adult about it. He wouldn't HAVE to do that, but that is the most "right" thing he could have done.

2. JUSTIFIABLE CONDUCT
Justifiable conduct is ANY ONE of the other morally "right" options, that are not "ideal". This covers any action we would consider merely "acceptable." "Justifiable" options for the kid who sees the bullies picking on the small kid include: not participating but just walking away, or merely discouraging others not already involved from joining in, or comforting the small kid afterwards.

3. UNDERSTANDABLE CONDUCT
Understandable conduct is conduct that is "wrong" but done for an "understandable" reason. For the kid, that might be going up to a bully and pushing him to the ground. We understand why he is doing it, and that he is doing it for a noble reason (to protect the small kid), but the conduct is not "right." We, as adults, would not tell him to do that as a first option.

4. REPREHENSIBLE CONDUCT
Reprehensible conduct is "wrong" conduct done for a repulsive, selfish, or just plain "bad" reason. If the kid, wanting to seem "cool" in the eyes of the bullies, goes over, and joins in the taunting by throwing his PBJ sandwich at the small kid and making fun of him, that would fall under this category. He is no better than the bullies themselves.

Stop and think about how you feel about the action in 3. vs. the action in 4. 4 is clearly worse right? You wouldn't tell the kid to do 3 OR 4, but if you had a gun to your head you would clearly tell him to do 3 INSTEAD OF 4.

------------------------------------

What does this have to do with race/gender conscious voters?

Well if you ask voters to follow "ideal conduct" they would act completely race (and gender)-blind. This is pretty difficult to do because it is hard to separate candidates from their race or gender. If a voter can actually pull this off, their mothers would be proud! Judge everyone by the content of their character alone.

It is "justifiable" for a voter to consider race or gender (to the end of promoting opportunities for blacks and women - as in affirmative action), but as one of many factors, and not the overriding factor. Most people in this election fall into this category - they are excited about having a black man and a white woman, and that is a plus for them, but that's hardly the overriding thing driving their vote.

Ideally we'd like them to completely ignore race and gender, but that is so hard (becuase of the rarity of such candidates) we can't expect them to do it.

Now, if a black person votes for Obama, primarily becuase he is black, and a woman votes for Hillary primarily becuse she is a woman, both people are likely doing so out of a desire to see the success of those social groups. This is "understandable" conduct. It's not "right" for people to be using race or gender as the dominant consideration in deciding who to vote for, at all, but the intentions are noble ones. Society wants to see blacks and women assume the presidency at some point, that is a "good" goal.

Contrast that with a white person voting for a white candidate becuse she is white, or a male voting for a male becuase he is male. They are most likely doing so becuase of some animus toward blacks and women respectively. This is "reprehensible" conduct. It is immoral conduct (using race/gender as a predominant factor) for a bad reason (animus towards the other race/gender).

Thus, the whites voting for whites, and men voting for men, is worse then blacks voting for blacks and women voting for women.