(MORALITY AND ETHICS [continued])[18th April 1987]

[Redbook3:205-206][19870418:1030b](MORALITY AND ETHICS [continued])[18th April 1987]

19870418.1030

[continued]

Self-ishness/self-lessness, as a practical test* for the application of the Union-Separation theory of morality, needs testing itself. It might distinguish murder from execution, I suspect, if used with great care;** but what of the Holocaust?***

First, collective immorality is possible, I believe, and stains the individual according to his capabilities (e.g. to know and to resist); second, individual participation is immoral according to the capabilities of the Individual. We all have Conscience, if we are Human, and wilful blindness is not a state of mind allowing a plea of ignorance to succeed. We know that Jews themselves participated in the operation of the Death Camps because they were forced to, and we do not convict them (and quite rightly); but it is impossible to conceive of a Death Camp guard selflessly forcing Jews and others into the Death chambers.

There is no neutral ground between Selfishness and Selflessness: you are**** either selfish (to a degree) or self-less, at any moment; but the only way out from Selfishness is by Love.

*[See last previous entry.]

**{cf.I.[[Redbook1:69-70][19690117:0000]{Personal and political responsibility}[17th January 1969][Age 17]]70 (& III above [e.g. [Redbook3:83-84][19870331:1825g]{Capital Punishment}[31^st March 1987]?]?)}

***And what of the I[rish] R[epublican] A[rmy]'s 'execution' of a captured British soldier? Perhaps hatred turns any killing [morally] into a murder – among other selfish emotions. But see below (p206 top [the final part (final one or two sentences) of this blog entry]).

****i.e. on balance? (cf. Contra-rotation). <870817>

(& See [[Redbook3:84-85][19870331:1825h]{Capital Punishment [continued]}[31^st March 1987]]p.84-5) <[87]0419>

[continues]

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