What do We Owe People Resisting Injustice? On the Ethics of Resistance and Assistance

[@drblunt]

Thanks for watching! And if you'd like to know more you can drop a question here in the comments and I'll do my best to respond or make a reply video. And remember if you want to really go into to detail check out the book (hard, soft, and e-book)! Cambridge University Press: bit.ly/3kb8fZG Amazon (US): amzn.to/38WmZcI

[@J0NNYLURVECABBAGE]

Nice one geezer, interesting vid.

[@drblunt]

Cheers cabbage

[@DanFradenburgh]

Congratulations on finishing the series! I need a clever way to drop a calendly link in here to interview you without getting spammed into the stone age!

[@nadeemshaikh7863]

I'm not sure whether we owe anything to anyone.

[@drblunt]

Nah moral nihilism is busted. At the very least we owe reciprocity to others out of naked self interest.

[@ethanvance3834]

I also believe that we owe it to ourselves, future civilizations, and the universe to continue improving upon our understanding of what life and consciousness is, and how we treat all living things. Also how our treatment and consumption of natural resoirces affects the lives of conscious beings. But we still have a long way to go. Considering we can't even agree on how to treat our fellow humans in modern society.

[@nadeemshaikh7863]

@@drblunt How is it busted?

[@dfj232]

I like your style Blizzy

[@drblunt]

Nice. Might have to rebrand as Dr Blizzy.

[@johnbrennan4759]

So if I see an obviously poor person about to pick a better off persons pocket should I forcefully interfere?

[@drblunt]

Depends on the context. If you live in a society in which there is extreme and intransigent inequality, then you ought to mind your business. If you live in a reasonably just society, it may be the right thing to do.

[@marcosnobuhara1126]

Why do we have the negative duty to not be a rat?

[@drblunt]

If I have a right to X then you have a duty to not stop me from enjoying X. This also extends to not supporting organisations designed to stop me from enjoying X. If X is resistance then you have a duty not to rat ❌ 🟰 🚫 🐀

[@bell191991]

Thanks for the good video. I completely disagree that 'fleeing inequality' is sufficient grounds for breaking immigration laws. Fleeing death in war or significant violent persecution (religion, sexuality etc.) is grounds for fleeing, but only to the first safe country. The poorest countries of the world are that way because of the governments of those countries and the policies they follow.

[@drblunt]

I can see your point and if we lived in a world where states weren’t interconnected it would explode my argument. But the causes of poverty are, at least, partially determined by the international system. The terms of global trade are set up to the disadvantage of poorer states, to say nothing of direct intervention by powerful states against poorer states that try to break free. Think about CIA and MI6 interventions to overthrow democratic governments. We can’t easily disentangle ourselves. So we do need to consider our complicity with the causes of poverty.

[@fredrickmansav6852]

I agree with bell, besides if you look at most of these "adventurers" as many of the young men who make up the majority of those heading to europe. They're just having fun literally bankrupting the social programs of the countries they leech off of.

[@drblunt]

Well not really. Most immigrants are net contributors when allowed to work and they end up sending large amounts of money back to their families via remittances. We need to be careful about trafficking in stereotypes flung around by the media. The facts don’t really fit the narrative they push down our throats.

[@bell191991]

@@drblunt I can see a compromise coming. If someone is fleeing from a country that we have intervened in disastrously, we should accept some refugees (Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan). However, this should only be for a fixed window of time to enter the country, say 5 years. We can't use foreign intervention as a blank check. Chile's economy has been doing very well for decades, despite the American coup in 1973, same with Brazil and their coup in 1964. Also, there are a multitude of poor countries that have not been touched by the West for 50+ years, but are chaotic because of internal politics (Central African Republic, Mali, Senagal, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Haití). We should not be legally obliged to accept any number of refugees because of corrupt political elites in those countries. We have to use diplomacy to make those countries safe and prosperous. Most of the remaining MI6/CIA coups were so long ago, we can't keep basing immigration policy on them now (Iran 1953, Congo 1960). As for IMF and World Bank, they can't force 3rd world governments to run up massive national debts and beg for relief and bailouts. When both parties in the UK ran up such massive debts in the 1970s that we had to ask the IMF for a loan, it led to Labour losing the next 4 elections, and there was a revolt in the Conservative party to remove those responsible from government for over a decade.

[@bell191991]

@@drblunt 'immigrants' vary massively, depending on country of origin, education level, cultural attitudes etc. You can't make policy by grouping them all together. Some are net contributors, some are a net burden. That's why we have an application system, to filter out people who will be a net burden, who will bring hostile ideology, or who will reduce the wages for people at the bottom of society.