Moral Dilemma in X2

by phil on Saturday May 10, 2003 12:11 PM
morality

I like the little moral dillema in X2. If there were mutants in our world, would you support mutantocide, anthrocide, or would you try to make peace? Let's step into this web of argumentation. The argument for killing off the mutants is to support natural selection's process of survival of the fittest. If we kill them off, we prove that we are fittest, and therefore keep and hold the throne of the earth. Yet, but what if following natural selection means following an enlightened peace between species, a symbiosis if you will. An argument for killing off the humans could be that mutants are the next line of progression for humans and therefore it's best if we just rid ourselves of the humans and move on. But then what determines the "next best" progression. If the humans killed off the mutants, wouldn't that then prove that the humans were in fact the better species? Now you're beginning to see the flaws of Social Darwinism. The counter argument to social darwinism also follows the line of Sartre's mentality of retroactive creation of meaning after choices and action. By our actions we choose what is the superior way. We could choose that only those with green skin survive, but only because that's our choice, not because green skin was inherently superior. For, we could also have chosen then that yellow skin was superior, kill off the green skinners, and THAT would then make yellow the superior race. Our existence in making choices precedes the moral essence of these choices. i.e. Morality comes after choice, not before.

My decision in those situations would probably come down to what is actually feasible and I would throw in some practicality into the mix. First, I wouldn't support anthrocide because I'm a human, and well, I want to live. But then, ah, is it better that I live at the expense of progress for mutants? See, there we get befuddled, and I would then have to invent or make up what it is that was the right way by my action. My a priori introduction would then be that I want to survive first, and therefore I'd support either peace or mutantocide, whichever would have the highest likelihood of success.