Essay on Racism and Discrimination

Racism, Hate Crimes, Discrimination, and Oppression, are concepts that are interconnected in one way or another considering that they all involve the issues of human beings being deprived of the chance to enjoy their rights. They are subjected to activities that humiliate them with the aim of shortchanging them or making them feel inferior or limit their ability to access facilities that they are entitled. Racism involves the insults that are directed towards a person of a different race under the belief that they are inferior. Discrimination covers the unjust treatment of people based on their origin, gender or size under the notion that a given section of the society is not good enough to perform certain responsibilities. Such people may experience cases of hate crimes where they are attacked and oppressed and made to work with no pay. Sometimes it can be stated that the practices are an indication of the culture of violence and not a process to offer a solution to a prevailing problem in the society. People have differing opinions on whether it should be abolished or retained to continue punishing individuals who commit crimes. Various theories are used to explain and analyze the issues, and they include the utilitarian and virtue ethics, ethical egoism and social contract theory, African, and Eastern ethics.

How Philosophical Theories Explain Social Injustice and Discrimination

According to the utilitarian ethics, an action is said to be good if it produces the desired results to a significant number of people. This theory focuses on the human life and states that the activities making people happy are good, while those that make them sad are immoral and should not be entertained. The society agrees that when someone violates the law, he or she should be punished. However, differences arise in the kind of punishments that should be applied. The greatest happiness principle is utilized in the determination of whether a given action is moral or not (Mill, 2016). The aim of utilitarian is to ensure that the rights of everyone are observed irrespective of their origin an indication that they do not support the cases of discrimination, hate crimes, or the oppression.

The theory was developed by Aristotle, and it works towards understanding life and managing to life morally. An individual is expected to practice being honest, treat all people equally, generous and brave with a measure to develop an element of a good character. The theory claims that human beings should ensure that they are treating others rightly an indication that it does not support issues of racism and oppression. Anyone who does discriminate others can be considered not to be a good person based on virtue ethics.

Ethical egoism theory states that an individual ought to be selfish and concerned with the issue of pursuing their self-interest. It is divided into two versions: the universal and individual egoism and they both state that people need to look at their interests and pursue their happiness without causing harm to others. If the pain is caused to another individual, it is wrong, and the necessary actions need to be taken to ensure that this issue will not happen again. Even when engaging in activities that are of self-interest, the rights of another should be observed and respected at all times. Engaging on issues of racism, oppression and hate crimes causes pain in the life of an individual and based on the theory, such actions are not morally right an indication that the theory does not support them (Hinman, 2013). When one is discriminated, it means that they are denied the opportunity to show their capability because of their race or gender and not inability. In such instances, the oppressor acts in self-interest but ends up harming others.

According to social contract theory, all the human beings have a moral obligation to do onto others that which they would find comfortable to handle if it was done onto them. If some actions are going to hurt, it is not good to do them to another person for this would not be considered to be morally right (Moehler, 2018). The society can only live in chaos is people are not willing to forgo some of their wants for the good of all an indication that if an individual feels that they should not be subjected to cases of oppression, then they have no moral obligation to discriminate others.

Moral Code of Different Ethics

There are many ethical theories, and one of the strategies that can be used in analyzing them is looking at the regions of the world where they have been created. The Eastern ethics mostly are from the Asian region, such as China and Japan among others. In China, one of the philosophies known as the Confucianism involves maintaining the moral virtue between the society and individuals, and actions are never regarded as being good or bad. The morality of any action taken is based on the motives behind it when done. When the motives are virtuous, the action can be said to be moral irrespective of their outcome. Confucianism stresses on the necessity to avoid cases of conflicts placing a lot of emphasis on the need to observe good behavior all the time (Zhao, 2015). Individuals are required to follow the required moral codes and standards. The motives of engaging in acts of discrimination, oppression, hate crimes and racism are not positive at all, and the activities are done with the aim of demeaning an individual, making them feel inferior or ensure that they do not access certain services. The acts cannot be stated to be virtuous, and their outcomes are not desirable. Therefore, the eastern ethics theory does not support the acts of cowardice that are committed by people who feel that they are superior to others.

African ethics places a lot of emphasis on the issue of human welfare by stating that an individual wants and needs are fundamental. Everyone has a duty to themselves and the wider society to engage in activities that do not harm others, activities that care about the feelings and wellbeing of all. People are supposed to fulfill duties and obligation to their colleagues based on their welfare and needs. African ethics do not support the issue of supererogation which are the acts that go beyond the activities that people are supposed to observe when they are moral agents. The theory feels that engaging in acts of discrimination is not morally right since it deprives an individual of the opportunity to express themselves due to either their race or gender. Hate crimes and oppression lead to destruction rather than building good relations among the people in a society.

Discrimination and Racism, hate crimes, discrimination, and oppression, are concepts that are interconnected in one way or another considering that they all involve the issues of human beings being deprived of the chance to enjoy their rights.

Why We Live in Chaos

Various theories are used to explain and analyze the issues, and they include the utilitarian and virtue ethics, ethical egoism and social contract theory, African, and Eastern ethics. Engaging on issues of racism, oppression and hate crimes causes pain in the life of an individual and based on the theory, such actions are not morally right an indication that the theory does not support them. The society can only live in chaos because people are not willing to forgo some of their wants for the good of all an indication that if an individual feels that they should not be subjected to cases of oppression, then they have no moral obligation to discriminate others.