True Virtue is Rare

Throughout history there has been a seemingly endless stream of morally reprehensible actions that have been endorsed, supported, and furthered by the vast majority of people. Using the United States as an easy example, some of our most revered leaders throughout history participated in events and institutions that we now recognize as evil. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison (the largest contributor to the Constitution) all inherited and then kept large slave plantations. Andrew Jackson’s experiences with slavery were perhaps worse because he started from nothing, and voluntarily choose to enter the slave trade. He also was the main force behind the Indian Removal Act that led to the Trail of Tears and thus the deaths of many innocent people.

How do we reconcile our images of these supposed great characters of history with their participation in such brutal events? The truth is that the vast majority of people will live within the bounds of society: patriotic and selfish, upstanding and backstabbing, kind and cruel. A rare sort of individual is required to buck this social trend: to not only reject society’s views but to actively campaign against them at risk to oneself. That is: to be truly virtuous.

The first reason for this “rarity of virtue” is diffusion of responsibility. The best example to illustrate this is the bystander effect. Basically, if person A is around when person B requires assistance, person A is less likely to help, the more other people are around. Everyone assumes that someone else will help, because helping is inconvenient, and there is probably someone better suited, right? A practical implication of this is that if you ever need someone to call 911 don’t just yell out, “somebody call 911!” Instead, point to someone specific, and tell them to call. To use slavery once again as an example, if you are a poor white person who is just trying to get by in life, and you know that making a fuss about slavery will make you many enemies among not only the elite but the everyman, why would you devote your life to the plight of the slaves? There are people much better suited, and who have much less to lose.

The second reason for the “rarity of virtue” is the difficulty in disobeying authority. First off, as illustrated by the Milgram experiment, and by the millions who either did nothing or even participated in the Nazi genocides, people really don’t want to disobey authority. People obey authority because it’s easy. People obey authority because it’s comforting to trust that someone knows what they’re doing. People obey authority because they could be punished if they don’t. This is especially troubling when you consider that those in power are often those who have the most to gain by preventing change.

The third and, in my opinion, the strongest reason for the “rarity of virtue” is that people don’t like to be separated from the group. The most striking example of this is the Asch conformity experiments. There is debate as to whether the participants generally knew that they were choosing the wrong answer (conformity) or whether they were truly swayed from what should have been obvious by the unanimous incorrect responses of the other participants. For our purposes, it doesn’t matter. Either way, these people were being swayed from what should have been obvious by the opinion of their peers.

A truly virtuous person is rare. A person, first, has to be confident in his own views. So confident that he denies the prevalent opinion and the opinion of those he feels should know better, those in power. Second, he has to feel an obligation to do what he feels is right. It doesn’t matter to him that others “should” be doing it. He sees an obligation to do the correct thing, regardless of the actions of others. Third, he has to be willing to take on great personal harm and ostracization for his opinions. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, such a person has to do something we personally agree with. There are plenty of examples throughout history of people who fit all these criteria but are the exact opposites of people we would call “virtuous.” People like mass murderers Charles Manson and Ted Kaczynski were confident in their views, did what they wanted regardless of the thoughts and actions of others, and were willing to take on risk and ostracization. These societal barriers to greatness also serve as safety nets to protect us from the worst parts of human nature.

Thus, although it is easy to dismiss someone like George Washington as a terrible person because of his participation in slavery, it is important to understand the societal pressures with which he was living. It is easy to live in a society that hates slavery and imagine ourselves taking on great personal risk in order to fight for abolitionism, but he was living in a very different time. Instead of shaking our heads in disgust or letting these historical figures off easily, we should use them as a cautionary tale for our own betterment. If such upstanding, important, and “virtuous” characters as Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Jackson participated in such a horrendous practice, then we should be especially vigilant when it comes to our own lives.

I hope none of my readers knowingly participates in such an atrocious practice as slavery, but you have to understand that neither did Washington, Jefferson or the rest. They had a very different understanding of slavery, largely informed by the fact that EVERYONE SAW IT AS “THE WAY THINGS ARE.” It is a lot harder to reject something when everyone else around you doesn’t have a problem with it, and would likely persecute you for voicing a dissenting opinion.

This is a call to arms. Next time you wear fur, eat meat, drive a car, litter, insult someone, or spend money on an expensive bottle of wine instead of giving it to a family in need, ask yourself, “Is this really okay? Am I just letting myself off easy because this is what everyone else does?” If you really want to consider yourself a virtuous person, you have to seriously examine every part of your life, especially those that everyone else seems okay with. Don’t just be content with being against uncontroversial things that everyone around you is against. Be virtuous, not another cog in the machine.