Brandt Schafer
Applied Ethics
Dr. Donahue
10 September 2013
Ethics Questions #1
1. Moral resources help an individual do what he or she is the right thing by
acknowledging other people in a situation, and finding care and respect for them.
These resources cause him or her to temporarily abandon selfishness in turn for
self-restraint, or at least finding some mutual identification. Ironically, it can be
for his or her own gain: respecting the right people and saying the right words,
even if he or she does not mean them, can forward him or her to his or her own
personal goals of authority, property, etc. Even his or her self-image is
motivation enough to seek the outcome with the best morals.
2. A cold joke is a figure of speech that obscures a disturbing series of events
with seemingly innocent terminology. It also refers to finding a sense of humor in
incredibly morbid situations. It undermines moral resources because most
individuals would refuse to provide or find humor in such controversial manners.
Cold jokes also mock the victims of these incidents, as they interpret their deaths
and pain as an anecdote. An example of a modern cold joke is along the lines of
“9/11 jokes are just plane wrong.” Even though the punchline is that the word
“plane” (as in an airplane) is homophonous with “plain” (as in basic), many
people find it offensive feeling that it dishonors the victims of the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks and their families.
3. Moral resources are neutralized during war in that sometimes the fastest and
easiest way to obtain information from human beings is to torture them. It is
when this information is finally obtained that one should regain his or her moral
resources, but this is often not the case. The anxiety and confusion of war
deteriorates rational and emotional thinking.