The only things that really get up my nose are injustice and cruelty. Incidents of injustice and cruelty are generally the result of hubris – of thinking “I am above the law. I am better than they are. Look at me I am important.”
Three cases of hubris and the after effects have been reported in the last few days. The law of cause and effect cannot be denied or avoided no matter how much people duck and weave – hubris invites Nemesis – and the Goddess Nemesis is implacable in the pursuit of the cause, to track every wrong back to its doer.
Firstly there is the tawdry case of Justice Einfeld’s prison sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice. It is now reported that he has lied to police on more than one occasion about who was driving his car, after being caught speeding, on camera. He now says he is not a dishonest man. I am sorry, anyone who lies is a liar, and anyone who lies is dishonest. Anyone, particularly in his position, who perverts the course of justice and lies, does it to save himself an ‘embarrassment’; to save seeing himself for what he is. If the ‘surface’ is unblemished he thinks he is unblemished. No matter that internally, mentally, Justice Einfeld is anything but the ‘clean skin’ he thinks he is. Remember, as I have said before, each of us is three people, firstly, the person we think we are, secondly, the person other people think we are, and thirdly, the person we really are.
Einfeld is now seeing himself for what he really is and does not like it, so to try and keep up the illusion, and to boost his severely dented ego, he still says he is not a dishonest man.
He is still in a state of denial.
The second case refers to an earlier statement by an Israeli Army spokesman, who said that the Israeli Army is the most ‘moral army in the world’. Well it now transpires that that individual Israeli soldiers have gone to the press to divulge instances of ‘excesses’ (I can think of no other word for it) by other members of the Israeli Army and of the, shall we say, uneven level of communication between the hierarchy and the men on the ground. Instances in Gaza, of unarmed and totally innocent women and children shot and killed because they turned left instead of right; a tank shell killing a Palestinian doctor’s three daughters in their apartment, because of ‘movement’ in the apartment; the use of certain armaments – phosphorous shells and cluster bombs, in civilian areas (illegal under the Geneva Convention) ; bombing hospitals and clinics; shooting and killing medical staff – etc, etc.
The Israeli Army is ‘spinning’ as hard as it can but when someone claims to be ‘moral’ they had better make sure they are, otherwise, as stated above, hubris invites Nemesis with the inevitable result – normally a very hard fall.
The third case involves Pacific Brands – the makers of popular underwear and workers clothing. Their move to close Australian manufacturing and move it off shore have raised some serious issues – I am not going to buy into the ethics of this matter at this time (that is for later, when I have researched it more). The issues I raise now are the ones about sweat shop labour in China and Hong Kong that now make Pacific Brands products. They, that is Pacific Brands, are now saying that they are doing what they can to ensure ‘sweat shops’ are not used by engaging auditors to check on the worker’s conditions in these ‘off shore’ factories. This is a fudge. If they are that concerned they should send senior management to vet these factories and if necessary cancel orders. But of course they do not wish to witness, first hand, the result of their actions; they do not want to feel guilty. Also this costs money and the bottom line is sacrosanct and the shareholders interests must be protected at all costs. They, that is Pacific Brands, also stress that the jobs of 8000 Australians depend on the production moving off shore. What they really mean is that the only way of protecting shareholders interests is the move off shore.
Again I say, you initiate a course of action so be prepared for anything, for any consequences – because you have no means of knowing what they will be. But be sure there will be consequences.
Always, always treat other people the way you would like to be treated. There is no viable option. It is the old story if you ignore humanity by ignoring ethics, ignoring morals, ignoring virtues and ignoring values, watch for the consequences and don’t be surprised if they are rather unpleasant.
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