Is The United States a Decent Country? Is It Civilized?

 The basis for this homily is Ian Buruma's Staying Decent in an Indecent Society (Liberties).

...What constitutes an indecent society was succinctly defined by the Israeli philosopher Avishai Margalit in his superb book The Decent Society. An indecent society, in his view, is one whose official institutions are designed to humiliate people, often a minority. A decent society is not quite the same thing as a civilized society. In Margalit’s words, a “civilized society is one whose members do not humiliate one another, while a decent society is one in which the institutions do not humiliate people.” A society ruled by Nazis, or Stalinists, or Maoists, or other rulers aspiring to totalitarian control, is of course more than just indecent. As long as one can freely express one’s critical opinions without being killed or imprisoned, it is possible to remain decent. The real moral dilemmas start when one’s livelihood, or even one’s life, depends on whether one is willing to cooperate with an indecent state. Where there is no choice, there is less of a dilemma.

Yes, the hardest ethical problem is between two equally bad actions: die fighting tyranny or acquiesce to tyranny are equally bad choice.

Watching Jeff Bezos, Paramount, and CBS acquiesce to tyranny is disgusting where the threat is merely financial - not even financial ruin - not the possibility of physical extinction.

We are not an indecent society - yet!

Are we civilized? No.

sch 7/20