Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Moral Muteness
I personally do not like lying (or lying by omission) and try to refrain from lying as much as possible, but 2 things make me want to lie: 1. my competitive nature and 2. to make somebody's day better. As an athlete you are able to see a lot of moral muteness, in and out of a game. My competitive nature influences my body and mind to lie for the sake of winning. In the bronze medal match of my club volleyball nationals, I would see my setter come down from a block that he clearly touched but the refs missed the call. Now in a match that isn't as important or a match that isn't close, I would usually, as we call it give them an "honesty point." But since this match was very important and really close I refrained from telling the refs so we could go on and win the match by 2 points. I personally would do it again and again because I want to win more than anything else, I like being the best. As for lying to make somebody's day better, I commonly compare this to surprises. Often for surprise birthday parties the birthday boy/girl is consistently being lied to by multiple people. I have been the liar and the one lied to about birthday parties. I find that surprises are great way to make peoples days and it just proves that not every lie is a bad. I value competitiveness and care very highly, and in both circumstances I am truthful to my values. It makes me feel good when I am in a competitive atmosphere because of the adrenaline it gives me. And it makes my day when I make somebody else's day. It is a give and get relationship. Moral muteness isn't always a bad thing, as it could make somebody's day to compliment their outfit when in actuality it looks ridiculous, but they needed the compliment.
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I agree that when it comes to athletics I am way to competitive to tell the truth. I can perfectly relate to your volleyball example but in a sport that I used to compete in, track. In one of the big track meets my team used to go to every single year a member of my 4x400m relay team was clearly running inside the boundary line. This is illegal in the sport of track and field and our team should have been disqualified. Being the competitor I am I obviously did not say anything to my coaches or the officials and was extremely happy we got away with it and won the race. Although it is still unjust, when it comes to athletics sometimes it is human nature to be morally mute.
ReplyDeleteHey Griffin. I can relate to these instances as well. I to didn't want to look at moral muteness always as a bad thing. In the two cases you provided moral muteness is beneficial for your team and those individual people. I also believe a sense of moral muteness is always present in athletics because I have done it and seen it happen to me. For instance, I used to play collegiate tennis before I moved here and most matches we had were not watched by line judges. So calls on the line and if it was a point or not were left up to the players. Personally I am very competitive to and when the other player isn’t calling the shots that are clearly in I begin to do the same. Now when it comes to moral muteness to other people I think a lot of people do this as you said to make somebody’s day. I feel if it’s going to make someone’s day a little better and not hurt them then why not brighten up their day.
ReplyDeleteGriffin, thank you for sharing. I know that you value competition; However I want to challenge you to to see that is it really winning if you don't do it honestly? While technically the answer may be yet. As a leader and as a participant in any sport or situation can being morally mute really benefit someone in the long term-where others will think they won honestly and you would know they did not. Just a thought to think about.
ReplyDeleteI agree how you have to lie since almost everyone is competitive in sports so everyone lies to each other I feel like just a little bit. They don't always lie but they just all want to win. No one wants to lose and i also agree what you said about moral muteness isn't always a bad thing too!!
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