ETHICS AND SOCIETY

ETHICS AND SOCIETY

WHAT ARE ETHICS?

The term ethics is derived from the Greek word "Ethos," which means "way of life." More specifically, ethics pertains to the behavior of individuals in society. When a person's behavior is righteous, it is referred to as ethical behavior; when it is wrong, it is referred to as unethical behavior. Ethics or ethical behavior encompasses all of the concepts such as honesty, fairness, justice, and tolerance that together direct our behavior towards making the greatest choices that contribute to the common good of all. Ethics and moral values are the most significant aspects of human lives. According to one of my favorite motivational speakers, Sir Qasim Ali Shah:

“Moral values” is not the name of a specific thing, it is the name of every action you take from the way you sit to the way you deal, to the way you think, to your auto-responses, and every action that somehow connects you with society and people. The word behavior is also a small part of values and it is “be have” which means “something already kept”. If it is not kept, it cannot be given.

In summary, ethics are the moral principles that guide a person's behaviors or how an activity is carried out, including the ability to distinguish between right and evil.

COMMON UNETHICAL PRACTICES OF PAKISTANIS:

I regret that the majority of our activities and behaviors are unethical.  Bribery, overcharging customers, lying, child labor, inflation, breaking the law, theft, robberies, wastage of time, money, and natural resources, sexual harassment, and discrimination are all practices that Pakistani citizens consider very common. Our behavior is poor not just outside the home but also inside. We still have mother-in-law disputes, husband-wife conflicts, women's and children's rights being ignored, orphans being mistreated, property distribution issues, and much more in the rapidly expanding technological world. Additionally, environmental dangers such as air, water, land, and noise pollution are disregarded by responsible authorities and the general public, leading to several health problems. Human survival has become incredibly challenging due to our smoky vehicles, deforestation, industrial pollutants, open burning of garbage, wall chalking, sewerage issues, noisy streets, and numerous other issues. Someone might wonder how these factors are related to ethics, yet they are. The government forbids the establishment of enterprises close to metropolitan areas so that their emissions cause less harm, yet industrialists disobey the law to make money. Similar to this, local self-government has been given the authority to handle sewage, water supply, pollution risks, and much more, yet they are ineffective and even ignore complaints from the public. In a nutshell, all those activities that harm living beings and the non-living environment are unethical.  Thus, the required actions should be done in this regard.

Some common unethical practices of our nationals include:

1.    HUMAN RIGHTS ARE DISREGARDED:

Every one of us is deficient in our obligations to one another, which results in the denial of peoples' legal rights. The rights to education, liberty, and freedom remain denied to women. Parents do not instill moral values in their kids, and kids have an unhappy attitude toward their parents. Elsewhere, men are used as money-grabbing ATMs. In our nation, child labor is highly prevalent. Orphans receive poor treatment. And if considering disabled ones, they sadly have no rights in our nation. As a result, when people fail to perform their obligations, human rights are neglected. Due to the mental damage caused by this, professionals get restless and develop sluggish thinking, which prevents the nation from growing.

   

2.    WASTAGE OF NATURAL RESOURCES:

The natural environment is essential to sustain life on earth. As a result, every person on this planet bears responsibility for its conservation. Unfortunately, human-caused global warming has altered the natural atmosphere to a greater extent. The state loss is irreversible, but additional destruction can be avoided. People all across the world are worried about the management of natural resources and the prevention of future waste. Many of us, particularly our countrymen, are still unconcerned. They continue to devastate and waste natural resources. Here are a couple of such examples:

·      More and more forests and trees are being taken down as opposed to being planted.

 

     

·      Water wasting is fairly frequent in the home. people leave the water faucet open, wasting water. Many people do not turn off their motors, and the water continues to flow. This causes a water deficit for everyone. 

·      Let us consider petrol, which is incredibly expensive per liter yet is nevertheless squandered. People drive automobiles with leaking gas tanks. Individuals frequently drive automobiles with malfunctioning engines, which cause the fuel to burn quickly, resulting in high fuel consumption.

 

·      Time is the most important reward revenue for everyone, but the saddest thing about today's nationals is that they are not regarding it as important and keep on wasting it on sinful, and wrong deeds.

3.    UNETHICAL PRACTICES OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES:

Government employees behave in a far worse manner. The majority of them are corrupt and dishonest. They typically ignore the grievances of the public. The culture of bribery is very widespread. Without paying additional money to government staff, basic paperwork operations such as obtaining birth certificates, B-forms, NIC, PRC, domiciles, etc., cannot be completed. Also, it's standard practice to use one's status and post negatively. For high-rank individuals, a road that is closed to ordinary guys is nevertheless open. This encourages a feeling of inequality, and as a result, the entire government lost faith in its citizens.

4.    UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES:

Businesses of all sizes, from the largest to the smallest, are plagued by deceit, misrepresentation, problems with customer and employee trust, and other frauds. Such unethical activities include charging excessive prices for poor-quality goods, giving short measures, selling broken and subpar goods, and raising prices for festivals and events, particularly during Eedian-Muslim holidays.

5.    BEGGING CULTURE:

Every road, street, bus stop, local shop, and bazaar is filled with beggars. Different new strategies are implemented to beg anyhow, hence this profession is progressing tremendously. In addition to the typical roadside panhandlers, some family, and friends regularly beg for items such as cash, food, utensils, clothing, jewelry, and other necessities. This destroys self-worth and renders people shameless.

6.    MISUSE OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA: 

The use of social media has increased tremendously over the past few years along with the rapid advancements in science and technology. Social media is a tool for disseminating knowledge and good, but sadly, it is also being misused more and more frequently. The Alpha and Z generations frequently utilize dating websites, producing and disseminating fake information, hacking, and making 18+ content accessible to children under the age of 18. In this case, girls and children are being abused.

 In fact, Pakistan ranks number one in searching for gay porn on google.  

7.    NOISE POLLUTION:

Every individual in our city contributes to noise pollution from roads to homes. Rather than using earphones, we use speakers. Marketing on the streets is done on mikes. On roads, pressure horns are used flagrantly. It has been documented that the noise level in cities like Karachi is higher than the 50–60 decibel safe range. Even during the day, the decibel level approaches 100. The constant exposure to loud noise destroys the eardrums and can produce nausea, excruciating bodily aches, and hypertension, resulting in psychological breakdowns and ulcers.

8.    WATER POLLUTION:

Water is an essential element of life on earth. Despite this fact, we are not stopping ourselves to make it contaminated. people litter in the water. Sewerage lines get terminated in the sea. Industrial wastes are deposited in the seas. This contaminated water is then used for domestic purposes, fertilization of crops, and feeding animals and becomes a source of diseases. This gives rise to an unhygienic society.  

Hence, there are uncountable deeds that are ignored by the common man but are putting a greater impact on society as a whole. This careless attitude of individuals is what an unethical society is.

HOW TO BECOME ETHICAL:

One cannot become ethical by reading or teaching ethics. A person teaching ethics or a person learning ethics may be at the extreme of immorality because it is a subject of practical implementation and not theory. A man read, and memorized books, didn’t understand, saw a person with morals, spent a few mornings with him, spent a few evenings, and got to know what is morality, and what is ethics. It is a virtue that has to be embedded in patience, tolerance, truthfulness, honesty, and observing self-restraint (Taqwa). Sigmund Fried was a neurologist, widely known as “the father of modern Psychology” and was the primary developer of psychoanalysis. "A mother approached him with her two-year-old baby and wanted to train him to make a great man. He said sorry, but you are late. The mother asked that late, how late, am I two years late? Sigmund replied no, you are so late that you should have trained first, and then there should have been any effects on your child." You can be ethical by preventing yourself to harm anybody in any way, by saying pleasant words and avoiding harsh words. Your attitude should reflect the highest virtues of kindness. Your heart should respect everybody. Trust me, brother, it cost zero dollars to respect others. If 99% of individuals are doing the wrong thing, you should not do it. You should have a sense of morality to distinguish between the good and bad of society. You should fulfill the rights of human beings. Ethics is not bounded by your behavior with human beings only. But it is as magnificent that it protects the rights of plants, animals, and even nature and the environment as well. You should be generous with animals and plants. You should not be an element that does not care for the environment and keep polluting it. You should be an individual, well aware of your role in society, and an element of peace.

WHY SHOULD WE BECOME ETHICAL:

There is a proverb that can be used to answer this “why”:

“As you sow so shall you reap”

Whatever you do either ethical or unethical, surely come back to you. If you help others, you’ll be helped by others too. If you ditch someone, sooner or later, you’ll be ditched as well. In the year 1893, in the USA, Texas, a man betrays his lover. The girl had a brother named Henry who loved her a lot. Henry went to him and asked the reason for the betrayal. During their conversation, both of them loosed their temperaments. Henry took out his pistol and shot the guy and he fell. Henry thought he had died and escaped from the spot. After a few days, Henry’s sister committed suicide. Henry was a pious man. He was not able to accept himself as a murderer and he also shot himself. Both brother and sister died. The man who cheated Henry’s sister did not die. The bullet touched his ear and get into a tree. As soon as Henry left the spot the man stood up again and his life kept going on. Twenty years later, in 1913, that man was constructing his own house. During the construction, he needed wood. He thought why should I go to the bazaar and buy wood, instead I should have it from the jungle. He put dynamite in a tree. The instant dynamite blasted, a bullet came out of it and went straight into his head and he died. It was the bullet shot from Henry’s gun. Whatever he did return to him. Remember, you are always accountable for your deeds. Immorality can never let you live peacefully. It is morality that blesses you with peace of mind and heart. From the essence of these words, you might conclude with the reason for being ethical.

IMPACT OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR ON SOCIETY:

We currently live in a turbulent and chaotic era. Everyone in the crowd is anxious. People are in pain. Calamity and misery are permeating every corner of the globe. Life has become a hurricane. This is not the end of the problems; more still emerge. Adversity seems to have been brewing for us. People appear to be joyful and cheery elsewhere, but they are not. We are all now suffering from sadness and depression. What is the reason behind all this menace? Pondering deep into the matters, you’ll find that all these problems have a root cause: unethical behavior. More than 90% of people agree with this thought. We are mentally unstable because of our unethical deeds. People with such an unstable mentality cannot benefit society, stopping professional progress as well. On the contrary, physically and mentally stable people can prosper with exponential growth and productivity. We keep on taking wrong actions, committing crimes, corruption, and adopting wrong in all possible ways. Our values are eroding. The human race is falling into a state of inhumanity. Our unethical behavior has turned the world into hell. In a nutshell, the impact of unethical behavior has ruined our society.

IMPACTS OF ETHICS ON SOCIETY:

People in the west are much more established and ethical as well. In Japan, all the school students have a weekly task of cleaning the inner and outer of their school buildings. This creates a sense of a clean and healthy atmosphere. Dubai charges 500-1000 dirhams for throwing garbage on roads and public places. Engineers from developed countries implemented the lighting-controlled system for energy saving in the 1980s and 1990s. People in China and many other countries are bound to form a queue if there are more than four people at a shop, or anywhere.

In Germany and other European countries, people travel by buses, and no roads are jammed with personal vehicles so more trains, shuttles, and busses are introduced to provide enough vacant seats for passengers to avoid traveling issues and provide a safe journey. All these rules and advancements are done to prevent society from harm and mental distress allowing people to come up with fresh and healthy minds and behavior.

PEACE AND ETHICS ARE INTERDEPENDENT:

Peace and ethics are interdependent. So, they are. Morality is the name of humanity, if there's immorality there's no humanity. Society, whose customs and traditions care for moral principles progresses exponentially. On contrary, People with depressed minds and negative thoughts are threats to peace and more often turn out to become hazardous. The major cause that gives rise to immorality and unethical behavior is illiteracy and the absence of ethical practices. The system of education prevailed is producing doctors, engineers, etc., but it's not generating human beings. What makes you human, is ethical and behavioral education, which we, unfortunately, lack these days. If you are not, one can make you a skilled man, but he can't mold your behavior if it is worse. Pakistan is an Islamic republic with 80 percent of its civilians, Muslims. We as Muslims know that behavior and ethics are essential to Islamic teachings, but we still don't care. In the race for success, everyone wants to be at the highest peak, but when it comes to morality and our behavior, very few have this golden treasure. Yes, brothers and sisters, ethics and morality are a treasure. One who owns it can own everybody, and one who lacks it loses everybody. My lord does not need many hymns, He does not need long speeches sitting on the pulpit. He needs your good manners and love for God's creatures. We all are thirsty for health and wealth. Trust me if you grasp the moral principles of ethics, everything is yours. Try talking calmly and politely and see the magic of ethics. Say one word of love and see the atmosphere, wonderful. Avoid anger and agony and relax your soul. Give respect and gain it as it is worth 0 dollars. Enjoin good and forbid evil. Our little deeds of kindness can make this land a piece of heaven. We, the Z-generation can bring peace if we all work under this divine cause.