THE EDITOR Sir:
IN OUR effort to function as a free society we have displaced the values and morals that defined the country's history, with an onslaught of violence, extortion, greed, political injustice, unethical business practices, and oppression of every kind.
I believe that one of the root problems for this moral degeneration in our society is our philosophy of freedom. Our practice of freedom neglects to recognise the importance of other persons' rights. Our actions must function in accordance with the rights of others if we are to be considered free at all - I do not steal from you because you have a right to what is yours.
The problem is that over the years we have inherited a fallacy manufactured in western epistemology, called it freedom and lived by it. Freedom today says: 'I do as I please because I can'. It is interesting to note that that was never the philosophical understanding of freedom in the past century.
Marx who postulated that communism would institute the 'true realm' of freedom believed that freedom was "...the right to do everything which does not harm others." Immanuel Kant believed that freedom is the inevitable consequence of obligation; the sense of ought, which is embedded in human behaviour and self-conscience. Each definition identifies a freedom underpinned by a common constraint - moral obligation. That is what true freedom is!
Therefore, if we plan to function as a free society, every Jamaican must recognise that his deeds are not done in an ethical vacuum but in the context of moral obligations. When no one in a country recognises the rights of another, the sanctity or integrity of life is never considered. The citizens feel free to do as they please, even if it means killing another.
The current violence in Spanish Town, contract killing, inappropriate sexual conduct in schools, increased cases of rape, unrelenting national greed, all result from neglecting the rights of others.
Since the time of Aristotle, political thinkers have agreed that justice exists when persons receive what is due them. Not recognising the rights of others is also the culprit that abates justice from being administered efficiently in our society. People do as they please not only because they want to, but because they can afford to. When the man violates the speed limit and endangers the life of another he does it because there is a great possibility 'im' can buy out the 'offisah'.
When political leaders implement structures that provide short-term appeasement (for want of a better word) but discount any sustainable development in the economy, they do it because their obligation of accountability to the public has been thrown out with its bath water.
There is need for an effective system that prevents the blatant cases of irresponsibility and lack of accountability on the part of our country's leaders. If rights are disregarded then moral degeneration of every kind will occur.
I am, etc.,
ANDRE P. LLEWELLYN
tru2jah@yahoo.com
Kingston 20
Via Go-Jamaica
