I once faced a professional situation where a (sort of colleague) had figured out how to play the system to secure better living conditions during an extended time overseas. That path led, compared to what others working with us were doing, to over $40 dollars per day in additional costs to the US taxpayers … for six months. Over $6000 in additional costs to the taxpayer so that this military officer could have a washer/dryer in his apartment rather than having to descend to the basement to do his wash. I challenged him, arguing that this was unethical. The response (from someone who had a stint teaching ethics ...) was that “this is legal” (as he then walked me through why it was legal) and therefore “ethical and moral”. That conversation still pains me as he left me speechless and (perhaps, seemingly) without recourse as this “legal is ethical and moral” was so at odds with my sense of the world.
That venality (petty (?) abusive personal corruption with zero self-realization of that corruption) makes me almost nostalgic — distasteful and, well, potentially illegal activity that pales in what is happening in the United States today.
It should shock anyone with the most basic ethics that we (yes, we — in the sense of the government that our tax dollars pay for ...) are complicit in the tearing of children from their parents (‘taking them for a shower’) with no plans (no ability) to ever reunite the parents with their children. This might (MIGHT) be “legal”, in the most abusive sense of the word, but it neither ethical nor moral.
- The Holocaust was legal — within Nazi Germany — and justified by (selective and abusive) quotations from the Bible.
- Genocide of indigenous peoples was ‘legal’ for colonizing powers around the world (including by America against so many tribes) — and justified by (selective and abusive) quotations from the Bible.
- Slavery was legal — and justified by (selective and abusive) quotations from the Bible.
- Segregation was legal — and justified by (selective and abusive) quotations from the Bible.
None of these was ethical or moral or something to be proud about for those looking back at those actions.
Legality is not a guide for morality.
Additional from “Mister Bumface”:
NOTE/PS: I did try searching to see if someone had diaried this. I didn’t see anything. If I missed it, (a) apologies and (b) put in comments so I can link/credit earlier discussion(s).
NOTE 2 / UPDATE: For clarity, I do not believe that what the Trump Administration is doing is legal under US international treaty obligations … which would make it illegal. I am not, however, a lawyer ….