The Futility of Morality

Does anyone else ever feel that "doing the right thing" feels futile in the grander scheme of things?

For instance, does giving to charity only serve to perpetuate wilful ignorance of a cause/problem on behalf of governance/businesses who should arguably be taking it on themselves?

Does vegetarianism/veganism help to save the planet and wildlife, or merely make those who participate feel better about themselves?

I was discussing supermarket giants with a friend. A month or two back following the Workfare hoo-hah I had decided never to shop there again. The boycott lasted three weeks. My friend was shocked: "How could you shop there if you feel so strongly about how bad they are?" My reply was that they'd won. I'm a terrible terrible person but I have to admit Tesco have managed to make it almost impossible for me to avoid them. There are no less than two Tesco Metros on my way to-and-from work. One of them is located right outside the railway station and the other is right next to my workplace. There are alternatives of course, but none of them offer the choice, value or locational convenience that these do, and I'm just a human being who's got as little time and money to shop around as anyone else. Whereas before I used to have to take a longer route home to do my shopping - either at a Sainsbury's, Waitrose or Nisa store - thanks to Tesco popping up I can now buy my tinned tomatoes for next to nothing AND shave minutes off my journey in the evenings. So WHY would I want to shop anywhere else?

I don't drive, so I'm limited to where I can cycle to, and soon the fuckers are going to build a proper supermarket where the local football club currently stands which is (guess what) also on my way home from work. So that's THREE Tescos right there in front of me, offering decent prices, food and service whilst simultaneously driving small business owners out of town and generally being a massive evergrowing blight on my local community and the economy at large.

So I shouldn't shop there right? I should use the local market or order online or something, but the truth is it's just not as viable or convenient as popping into Tesco on my way home.

Am I really changing the world by spending more on tinned goods and going the long way home? Or am I just doing myself a disservice? Is this just laying down in front of a firing range, or is it looking after number one? Is this how one starts to turn into a cynical old libertarian asshole? Or does it come to a point where you have to say "What's the point in martyrising my time and finances when Tesco aren't even going to notice whether or not I shop at their store?"

i can't tell how insufferable it is to quote yourself but i mentioned tescos a while ago in another thread, here.

i think you have to just pick your battles; maybe you end up dealing w/shopping somewhere shitty, the same way you deal with working for somewhere crappy because you need to work. but it doesn't mean you give up on everything because it's futile. some things mean something because they mean something to you - because, almost selfishly, it's rewarding for yourself to exercise some sense of control, however futile, to vote with your wallet - & some things mean something because at least they're something, they're good practice, shopping local or whatever else, taking a carrier bag w/you. as soon as you get a little way into trying, rather than not, you are failing, hugely, on other fronts. but that is the deal & to be dispirited you would be getting ground down. part of trying is just so you try & so that it makes whatever minimal difference it makes - things have weird, invisible cause and effect but some of what you do will pan out. tescos might keep getting your money because you're not gonna give up time you could usefully, efficiently & responsibly spend otherwise cruising to another supermarket out of moral spite. but that's just give and take.

Workfare hoo-hah

Just another case of one country doesn't know what another country calls its vaginas.

Live your life the right way, it's you who has to look in the mirror each day and justify what you did today, and remember, deep down in there, that street, the one from childhood, where you used to live.

Remember the ball that was out there on the street and how you used to kick it?

Kick it again dog latin, kick it free and kick it hard, fell that way again.

They'll never win if you kick that ball true, they can never take that away from you

xpost good post quoted mate. it's very interesting. i'm in a position where i have to either acknowledge that i am either a hypocrite or a slave in some ways, as I have lectured and moralised over the evil that is Tesco and yet continue to shop there. My reasons and justifications are so poor and pathetic that it only goes to enhance that hypocrisy. And yet at the same time it points to just how out of hand the Tesco situation has got - that even someone who WANTS to avoid Tesco finds that he cannot. It's not like McDonalds or Gap who you can always avoid if you want to, but groceries are a day-to-day thing, and when faced with a lack of viable choices one becomes a slave.

I get really cross with people who say things like "there's no point in voting unless you vote for Labour or Tory because you're just throwing it away". I'm being one of those people here.

It is useful to distinguish between the morality of your direct interactions with other people and the morality of spending money (or not) with mega-corporations you believe are behaving badly. The former is never futile.

The latter often seems futile, because the link between your action and the desired outcome is so indirect and attenuated that they will affect one another only by some accident or miracle. In spite of this, I do attempt to 'vote with my money' in as many cases as I can do so without twisting my life into knots. It just feels helpful in its small way.

just gonna say that morality is not about utility. see Kant etc

Aimless otm

it's useful to distinguish between morality and power, the former has fuck all to do with the latter. politics is totally about power.

I'm reminded of the deathbed letter correspondence between Jefferson & Adams where the two of them finally worked out their longstanding political/religious/moral differences and agreed that the whole point of it all could be summed up as "Be just and good."

I think kant also would have distinguished ethics from morality?

If you rack more shit from Tesco's than the shrinkage factored into the cost of the things you pay for you can really stick it to them.

ANARCHY IN THE UK

just gonna say that morality is not about utility. see Kant etc

this might be the best handwaving i've ever seen. the categorical imperative, insofar as it even works (ie not at all) is only useful because it has utilitarian implications. i'm no hardcore utilitarian but to say morality is "not about utility" is nuts.

https://i.imgur.com/Fl5oOss.jpg

ok Syria now repeat ten times after me

how did you know his name.

he just looked like a syria i guess