Euthanasia, Demagoguery and Propaganda, and the Culture of Violence and Cultural Violence

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1. In our discussion on Religion, Ethics and its role in the democratic public sphere, we discussed a number of public issues that are affected by our religious views. One such issue is Euthanasia, the termination of a very sick person's life, to end their suffering. Euthanasia raises a number of agonizing moral dilemmas. Using your knowledge of ethics from this course, please answer the questions below giving specific reasons for your answers.
Is it ever right to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is undergoing severe pain and suffering? Under what circumstances can euthanasia be justifiable, if at all?
Most religions suggest that taking a life under any circumstances is unacceptable.
In our reading by Rorty, he has argued that harm is done when people use religion to excuse cruelty. Is euthanasia a case of using religion to excuse the cruelty involved in keeping a suffering person, alive? Whatever your answer, please explain it.
Rorty suggests that as citizens of a democracy, we should try to put off invoking conversation-stoppers as long as possible. Give an example where a statement about Euthanasia that is a conversation-stopper can be changed into one that keeps the conversation going.
2. We have seen through our readings that demagoguery and propaganda can be dangerous to democracies. Arguments based on demagoguery use many strategies. Use an example of your own and explain the following concepts.
Identity as argument
Projection and Scapegoating
Moral equivalence and cunning projection
Rhetoric of victimization
3. In our lesson on violence, we have come across the argument that violence is a form of communication. In the US, according to The Educator’s School Safety Network, there were at least 3,380 threats against K-12 schools recorded in the 2017-18 school year, a 62 percent increase from threats in the 2016-17 school year.
Analyze this increase in threats and acts of violence using two different perspectives- Culture of Violence and Cultural Violence.
Bar Tal has argued that violence shifts the stakes in terms of emotional involvement, it fuels the desire for revenge, and it leads to a cultural preservation of this memory of victimization. Explain how this affects what we can demand in terms of ethically responsible behavior - from the perspective of victims and the perspective of perpetrators. What should they do to break the cycle of violence?
4. On August 11, 2018, a rally was held in Washington DC to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville VA. However, the marchers there were greatly outnumbered by counter-protesters, police officers and representatives of the news media. In an interview Jason Kessler, the organizer of the event in Washington, said that fear and an “atmosphere of intimidation” were the primary reasons for the sparse turnout. He said that participants in a chat group on Discord, a digital communications app favored by the far right, were harassed in the run-up to the rally after their personal information, including phone numbers, addresses and license plates, was released online.
Was this rally in Washington DC an ethical protest? Evaluate from the perspective of all the stakeholders at the rally.
Using the RRICC model of ethics, evaluate whether the harassment on Discord was ethical? Was it a justified mode of protest? Why or why not, explain with reasons.
5. We have read about apology and forgiving. In November 2017, comedian Louis C.K. issued a statement in response to sexual misconduct allegations. Below is his statement in full.
"I want to address the stories told to the New York Times by five women named Abby, Rebecca, Dana, Julia who felt able to name themselves and one who did not.
These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn't a question. It's a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.
I have been remorseful of my actions. And I've tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I'm aware of the extent of the impact of my actions. I learned yesterday the extent to which I left these women who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around other men who would never have put them in that position.
I also took advantage of the fact that I was widely admired in my and their community, which disabled them from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me didn't want to hear it. I didn't think that I was doing any of that because my position allowed me not to think about it.
There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.
I wish I had reacted to their admiration of me by being a good example to them as a man and given them some guidance as a comedian, including because I admired their work.
The hardest regret to live with is what you've done to hurt someone else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them. I'd be remiss to exclude the hurt that I've brought on people who I work with and have worked with who's [sic] professional and personal lives have been impacted by all of this, including projects currently in production: the cast and crew of 'Better Things,' 'Baskets,' 'The Cops,' 'One Mississippi,' and 'I Love You Daddy.' I deeply regret that this has brought negative attention to my manager Dave Becky who only tried to mediate a situation that I caused. I've brought anguish and hardship to the people at FX who have given me so much The Orchard who took a chance on my movie and every other entity that has bet on me through the years.
I've brought pain to my family, my friends, my children and their mother. I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen. Thank you for reading."
Evaluate whether this is an effective apology using David Boyd’s seven distinct steps to an effective apology.
Explain what was done in an artful way and what was done in a non-artful way within this apology.
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