In my response to this article, I actually find myself drawing on the many ethics courses I took during my own humanities degree. Not sure if your liberal arts degree included Kant, but I’d recommend a self-study in the Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals. The first formulation of Kant’s categorical imperatives is “ Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction.”

I use that maxim a lot. Would the world be okay if EVERYBODY acted in the way I wish to act? Can we all cut the line of traffic for the turning late instead of waiting? Can we all pirate movies? Can we all refuse to pay our loans? What is it about YOU that you get to behave in a more self-serving way but other people can’t? You can’t have a system of ethics that allows you to make exceptions for only yourself.