How to Hack It in a World Without Ethics

Tom Stevens
Jul 21, 2017 · 5 min read

Ethics, put quite simply, classify the practice of “doing the right thing,” typically in accordance with the Golden Rule which means doing unto others as one would have done unto him, or herself.

In today’s modern world, particularly in the arenas of politics or business, ethics have been subsumed — or replaced — with the practice of behavior where “the end justifies the means.”

You can see it in the wholsale corruption and exploitation of medicine (chemotherapy drugs that cost $10,000 a day, for example), costs that are left unregulated by our politicians, who are beholden to millions in lobbying dollars by the pharmaceutical industry.

And, you can see it in your workplace, where corporate profits prefer younger and more easily exploitable workers to older employees, who are denied the opportunity for employment (despite their vast and accumulated experience) and are blackballed in a silent conspiracy that prevents them from legal recourse for age discrimination.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1489–1527) the Italian author of The Prince (link), argued that the principles of power are always best used in a way that has been characterized as manipulative, cynical and pointedly to the end “justifying any means.”

It’s not quite that black and white, however…but first, let’s deal with that which is black and white: you, and your ability to function in the world without being screwed over by thieves, criminals and charlatans who come calling in the cloak of respectability — as your elected representatives, as teachers, as business people offering you opportunity at a price that you must often pay before discovering whether their product or service to you is worth as much as a plugged nickle.

You will have to use your own critical thinking to separate the thieves from those offering fair value, or justice, to you as a consumer. But it ain’t easy, because even if your gut tells you to avoid someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart, you may be forced to deal with them anyway because they hold power of some sort over you.

Here’s the kind of power Machiavelli described, and it applies perfectly to what our politicians say and do today: “People are not ready for the truth.”

In his article on the website thequintessentialman.com (link), Andrian Iliopoulos explains how the above statement functions in the context of a relationship between a man and a woman:

“Think of a difficult romantic relationship you had. After the honeymoon, reality hits hard and most times one of the parties will let their mask…slip. False expectations, neurotic reactions, unmet needs, and increased familiarity will lead to friction and an inability to maintain a stable connection. Despite your most courageous attempts to be honest, your partner keeps reacting negatively to news that doesn’t suit their liking. Your ability [willingness] to communicate honest views decreases with time and inevitably you become dishonest in order to avoid conflict.

In a romantic relationship, usually you have the luxury to leave, but [one party] doesn’t wish to abandon his position. He decides to embrace dishonesty as the most effective weapon to deal with lack of conflict.

People will almost always favor a delusional hope to a harsh truth.” My emphasis.

This is a perfect example of the benign use of deception, or maybe the least malignant form of it.

Other examples of outright fraud and deceit mingle with the milder forms of deception by default, as just described: the contract that you sign with your surgeon before your boob job, in which the fine print (which you don’t bother reading or couldn’t understand if you did) prevents you from taking your doctor to court if your breasts turn black (necrosis sucks) and fall off after surgery.

Yes, you’ve signed yourself into a nifty little instrument called “binding arbitration” which means that an “independent” counsel who typically favors your doctor will sit down with you and your incompetent provider and force you to accept little to no recompense for your suffering.

That’s why they tell you to read the fine print.

But if every doctor you see has such a binding clause in their contracts, and they won’t treat you without you signing, you have been forced to give up most of your legal rights if they harm you.

Is any of this ethical? Hell no, but it goes on every day in every permutation imaginable, and only you can decide how you will deal with it.

Machiavelli, some argue, is an outright sonuvabitch for advocating that one conduct oneself to get what one wants by any means necessary. But I’d argue that is not a good assessment of what Machiavelli really was…

…and that is a pragmatist.

Hang in with me on this a bit longer, I guarantee it’s worth your time.

The dictionary tells us that pragmatism is…

noun : a practical approach to problems and affairs that tries to strike a balance between principles and pragmatism.

So, principles and ethics like the Golden Rule, for example, can be bent to serve one’s immediate practical needs. Practical, huh?

That’s what’s known as a gray area. And in this case, it’s a HUGE gray area.

So, what’s your bottom line? How do you hack a world in which ethics have seemingly gone to hell in business, in politics and in personal relations?

Here’s the simplest and best answer you’re ever going to get:

You’re going to have to treat the world, and just about everyone and everything in it, as a mine field in which one wrong step can get your legs blown off.

If I had kids of my own, which I don’t, this is exactly what I would tell them.

And their probable reply?

“Gee, that doesn’t sound like much fun!”

To quote Miles Davis in a Playboy interview done in the 1980s, when asked what he did for fun, Miles replied:

“What the fuck is fun?”

That pretty much sums up life, but if you know which plants in the rain forest are poisonous from those which are good medicine, you can choose your fun.

As it always is in life, nobody cares what you do unless it directly affects or benefits them.

Get the full-monty run-down on how to hack the world to your benefit in my cynical but highly rewarding book, Nobody Cares: The Ultimate & Only Self Help Book You Will Ever Need, available now on Amazon (link.)

If you don’t win, I don’t win.

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Written by

Writer, inciter, cartoonist, pilot, poet and preacher. Author of Nobody Cares out on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and on nobodycaresbook.org

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