things I can't get off of my mind

Watching the video and watching several videos of kidfluencers on Youtube makes me think how do they like their lives being exposed to the public. It may be true that some of these kids are living the life because at a young age they are already earning money and they get to have everything they want but as videos nowadays are getting too personal, is it healthy for them to be exposing their whole lives just to earn from it? Some of these kids were said to have a beyond average confidence which is good because we know that children tend to be shy a lot and by making videos online, they gain confidence. I think it is good if they like what they are doing but if there are signs that they are just being forced by their parents to do things, I think this is where it goes out of hand. Also, there a lot of psychologists and other specialists that argued that these young Youtubers should also have the same legal protection as child actors and performers which I think is a great idea and that it should be vital for them to be protected at any cost. Thus, I think there are a lot of pros and cons in being a kidfluencer but we should always remember that kids should enjoy their childhood because having great childhood memories will make an impact to their future lives.

In this week’s episode of ethics, we’ve learned about moral theories namely universalism, cultural relativism, egoism, hedonism and emotivism. As I was absent in our digital day class/activity because of a severe headache, I wasn’t able to participate in the activity regarding the moral theories I’ve mentioned above. So, I just researched about these isms.

The first video we’ve watched talked about morality and if it does came from God. The questions that stuck in my head are these two:

“Does God tell us to do what is good because it’s good? or is it good because God tells us to do it?”

In the two questions, I think that the answers to this comes with a “but” or an explanation because it is not answerable by just yes or no. Like in the first question: Does God tells us to do what is good because it’s good? I think the answer is yes because for a slightly religious person like me, I think that God only wants us to do good things and not do bad things which is why I think that God tells us things because it is good. An example is to love thy neighbor. God wouldn’t said that if it isn’t good but he said that so it is good. On the second question: Is it good because God tells us to do it? In line with the first question, I think that God wouldn’t tell us something bad to do because His only intention is to makes us do good things. My answer to the question is yes and no. I think it is good because God tells us to do it but I think it’s also not good because sometimes, God will tell you things to do that is just a way to test your faith. In the example in the video, like if God says that you should burn someone’s house down, I think God can only say this to test your faith in Him by knowing your decision to burn the house down or not. Morality can enter in this kind of situation because you’ll think about it if is it right to do it or not. Thus, my thoughts about “Does morality come from God?” is that I think it depends on the faith you have for God. If you are religious, you’ll believe that morality came from God and if you’re not or you’re skeptic, then you’ll believe that morality is just a collection of social norms or whatsoever.

On the second video, these are the questions and statements that stuck in my head and below these questions and statements are my thoughts regarding them:

“What if you could do whatever you want and get away with it?”

I think this question’s intention is to ask me if what if I could do whatever I want whether it is right or wrong and get away with it. If I could do something bad to gain something from it and get away with it, I think I wouldn’t do it. First, I am responsible for my own actions which is why I wouldn’t do anything bad even though I can get away with it because in the first place, we shouldn’t do bad things. Although I look like a little hypocrite with what I said, I think that is what I will do. However, in some instances, I know I can do bad things knowing that I could get away from it. Like when I ask my mom for money to buy a book. I would ask a higher amount for me to gain some kickback from the money my mom gave because I know that my mom wouldn’t know that I raised the price a bit. Thus, my answer is that it depends on the situation like how bad is the thing that I will do.

“According to Plato, the just person will always be infinitely happy than the unjust person because the just person knows that committing unjust acts messes with his soul and his happiness.”

I agree with this statement that Plato said because I believe that true happiness is obtained when you don’t have any burden or regrets in every action you’re making or you’ve made. For example, I’m a very just person which is why I won’t do anything that will hurt me and will hurt other people. Then, I think if I am really a just person, I would definitely be happy because I know all of the things I’m doing is good.

“Goodness is not derived from material or social gain.”

I somewhat agree with this because maybe sometimes we obtain goodness from material or social gain and sometimes we don’t. For example, I obtained an award from helping in the evacuation centers by giving out the relief goods but when I was giving out the relief goods, it was tiring and it made me annoyed a bit. Although I was a bit annoyed when I was giving out the relief goods, I think I will reflect with what I felt and acted during that time because of the award I received because I would think that I should be deserving of the award. Thus, I believe that material or social gain also helps us goodness in a way. 

Today we talked about involuntary, voluntary and deliberate actions, the differences of moral, immoral and non-moral actions and ignorance and more. The class lasted for just an hour and I think even if it just lasted for an hour, the class still asked a lot of questions about the topic. I remembered a lot of “huh?” moments.

It was funny how my classmates were asking questions and being confused with the questions they asked HAHAHAHA.

Going back, I don’t think I have a question about the topics because it was clearly discussed and the questions of my classmates were also answered clearly which is why I think the class was pretty clear to me hehe.

Today is the first day of our formal discussion in our Ethics class with Ma’am Hiloma and I can say that this class will be memorable to me because I know I’ll learn a lot of things that I can use in my life.

The questions that stuck in my head were “Ano ang mas malala? Ang alam mong mali pero ginagawa mo pa din o hindi mo alam na mali kaya mo ginagawa?”.

I first picked the latter which is “Hindi mo alam na mali kaya mo ginagawa.” I think this is much worse than the first because it might be the person’s fault that he/she doesn’t educate himself/herself about things that are right and wrong. Which is why I came up with a conclusion that the latter is much worse. However, after talking to my seatmate who chose “Alam mong mali pero ginagawa mo pa din” as much worse than the second, I suddenly questioned myself if my judgment was correct. I voted for the first one when we were asked to raise our hands for the voting but I was still confused whether I was correct with the second one or not.

When Ma’am asked a few of my classmates for reasons why they didn’t raised their hands to vote, one of my classmates said that the two were both wrong but you should weigh it out and he said “pipili ka ng mas tama sa dalawang mali”. I agreed with him because it is true that both statements are wrong. Then, Ma’am revealed that according to Aristotle, the second one was worse because you can blame the person that he/she doesn’t know anything or that he/she is ignorant. After knowing that the one I picked, matched with Aristotle’s theory, I was convinced that my judgment was somewhat correct or that I was just relieved to know that I matched with Aristotle.