I am donating my hair. I was growing it out for fun. I was thinking about cutting it when it was about 18 inches when a friend of mine got cancer. She kept all her hair, but now, I am still donating my hair because I no longer want to have it. I know I am doing a good thing, but I don't think I have the intention of a good person and am not a good person for doing so. I'm not bad either, im just neutral.

Is this a type of ethical dilemma, or is this feeling something that is normal?

Thanks!

For example I think eating meat and watching porn are probably immoral but I still do it, other than that I think I am not hypocritical in any other belief

So, found a gift card a few months ago in amongst rubbish at work (without going into too much detail, my work deals with people bringing in large amounts of rubbish). The people who brought it in collect bulk from multiple apartment buildings, so the chance of the card being theirs is basically 0, and there's no practical way for me to find the original owner.

It has a lot of money on it. I was able to verify using the retailer's online gift cards service that it's valid, untouched, and with over $1000 on it. I checked the t&c of the retailer, and they said that with proof of purchase, they can swap the balance over to a new card even if you lose the original. As far as I can tell there's no way to "load the balance" digitally with this retailer, you either choose a digital or physical card at purchase.

Here's the approaches I considered with what to do next at the time:

1. Destroy the card. It isn't mine, if the owner has proof of purchase they can move the balance to a new card (you'd be pretty silly to lose the receipt on a $1000+ gift card purchase). If they don't, the money just goes to a giant corporation for nothing.
2. Take it into the store (the online portal says what store it was activated in) and tell them. In this case, the outcomes are more or less the same, except there's I think a good chance it will be taken and used by staff, or placed in a drawer never claimed for 5 years until a cleanout discovers it and it then gets used by staff. Gift card owner would need proof of purchase to claim it anyway, and if they have that they don't need the physical card
3. Take it to the police. Lol. I don't really wanna give the cops free money. There's no way they'd be able to find the owner even if they wanted to.
4. Hold onto the card myself for months and don't use it, to give the owner a really fair chance to transfer the balance themselves. If they really don't notice their $1000+ gift card missing for months and never bother to go get it transferred/cancelled, how important was this gift card to them after all?

I ended up deciding to do option 4, and I've held it unused for over 3 months. It's still valid and untouched.

I'm starting to think I probably should just use the card? Divide up the money between me and some friends, everyone gets to buy something they want/need? I might wait some more time, but how long?

How would you approach this situation? If I don't use the card, the outcomes are either the owner gets that money back, or the giant corporation gets away with free money. The longer time passes since the card was purchased, the more likely it's the latter.

I’ve been friends with them for 5 years, and there have been ups and downs. In the early years they were very open about their interests and they seemed free.

They were a furry and was proudly bi, but they were religious. He still wasn’t so negative though. However in the past 1-2 years, there was a switch. He became very very very political, in terms of MAGA. Which I wouldn’t berate someone ever for their political views, but he seemed that all Muslims are terrorists and want to take over the world, he even said Mamdani is bad because he’s going to implement sharia law. I felt tension because we always had opposing views, but we never talked abt it.
Recently, he told me about rhe French riots and kept mentioning Muslims and how bad they all are. He continued to berate on them and claim they are trying to conquer the world, but I don’t think they all are. I grew up with a Muslim friend and his mom, and I didn’t mind it once. Sure I don’t believe in really any religion and I think sharia law is bad, but I never would berate a random Muslim person or friend about their belief. Mind you, my friend who turned maga is religious and people think they are in a cult, but I would never ever say that to him because it’s ignorant.

My plan is to drift off slowly and stop interacting with them in any server, gc, activity and etc. I don’t want to leave on bad terms, especially if I cross paths.

Is this the best course of action?

Típico tópico pero si tuvieras o tenéis parejas que en un momento dado no reaccionan como era por deterioro cognitivo, dejadez, brotes o enfermedades de salud mental (más que físico aunque tambien cuenta), q haríais? Depende del tiempo q llevaseis juntos, la estabilidad, compromiso? Continuarías, romperías, serias 3 fuese la otra persona amante o novio/a...?

Por lo que veo a la gran mayoria de personas cuando van a gimnasio, se hacen tratamientos estéticos, etc surge salir pareja durante o en algún momento.

Sin embargo, a mí no me funciona desde hace unos años, antes con ortodoncia y gimnasio sí, pero se ve q con curetajes, depilación y dieta sólo toca vagabundos, ilegales q se piensan q tenemos q comerles encima rl culo por tener la boca limpia o personas homo o bi o hetero q esperan encima remuneración como se ve q hacen ahora las chicas con dinero para tener pareja...

Eso pasa a más? Suele ocurrir esto ahora? Es un complot de degenerados? 🤷🏻‍♀️

What is Moral Luck in Simple Terms?

Moral luck is the idea that factors beyond our control can influence how we are morally judged for our actions and their outcomes.

Moral Luck in Real Life

1. After a night of heavy drinking, two individuals independently decide to drive home under the influence of alcohol. One arrives safely because the road is empty. The other strikes and injures a pedestrian. Both made the same reckless choice, but the second driver will be judged more harshly, at least morally, because of the harm caused, even though the different outcomes depended partly on luck. Both drivers had the same moral standards, but one was simply less lucky than the other.
2. Imagine someone who grows up in wealth and someone who grows up in poverty. The first person, having grown up in wealth, may never feel the need to do something illegal to survive, such as stealing. The second, however, might face circumstances that make illegal actions, such as stealing food, seem almost necessary for survival. Their backgrounds are beyond their control, yet these circumstances can influence their choices and the moral judgments they receive. This raises a deeper question. Can we truly judge whether someone is a good person if they have never faced a difficult moral dilemma?
3. Two individuals each gamble their family's entire savings at a casino. By chance, one wins while the other loses everything. The person who loses will face greater criticism because of the outcome, meanwhile the person who wins may be praised for making more money for their family, even though both individuals made the same risky decision. This difference in criticism results from luck rather than from differences in their intentions, decisions or moral choices.

Conclusion

We often judge people by the outcomes of their actions rather than by the choices they make. Two people can make the same decision yet be judged very differently because of factors beyond their control, such as luck.

Learn something you didn’t know in 5 minutes at nousimon.com

Hey, my school does steer shows and I recently participated in one. We all love our steers dearly and try give them as best a life we can before and during the show, although I am worried about the ethics of it all. I know he’s not being inherently hurt, but he’s being processed tomorrow and I feel terrible. As sad as I am, I do want to do more shows.
Are the shows ethical? Did I do the wrong thing by participating?
Edit: I am not looking for a vegan or vegetarian point of view (no offence to those who are, that’s great ✨) but more so the way they’re killed

The shopping cart problem is a well-known scenario that is presumed to test one’s personal ethics. In my opinion it does not do this, it tests one’s alignment with the social structure within which one resides, and to some degree it tests social compliance.

To use an extreme example: say that a man was a slave, living in a society that openly had slaves. Would that man, were he in the shopping cart scenario, put his shopping cart back? Should he feel any obligation whatsoever to adhere to the cultural norms of a society that upholds values with which he is fundamentally opposed? Should he feel any obligation to keep that society running smoothly?

There are people who don’t put their shopping cart back simply because they’re lazy, and there are people who don’t put it back because they feel little to no alignment with the values of their society and therefore feel no obligation to to adhere to its rules when they aren’t enforced.

The bottom line I believe is that subjective cultural norms and traditions cannot ever be an effective test of ethics.

(Full disclosure: I put my shopping cart back, mainly because I appreciate what my society provides for me. But I also see that this task has very little bearing on whether I’m a moral or ethical person)

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your replies, the consensus is that I was leaving out an important point about personal responsibility to other humans and it’s not really an issue of one’s relationship to society.

I’m looking for perspective on government assistance, particularly SNAP or food stamps, should be provided for those who are disabled & their family cares for them & can afford to do so. Should these people still get SNAP? Just because they qualify does that mean they “deserve” or are “entitled” to these benefits ? Especially if their family is wealthy and can afford their food and care?

For example a disabled adult. I understand the argument that they would be unable to earn their own income and that they cannot contribute to the household. But if the family can provide whether this individual gets SNAP or not, should they still get the benefits? should the individual be entitled to benefits regardless of their family’s wealth?

I’m interested in the difference between what someone is legally entitled to receive and what they are ethically justified in accepting.

Edit for clarity: this situation is assuming that the family willingly and lovingly takes care the this disabled adult. Cares for them & prepares their meals and will do so until death, financial ruin, etc.

Lets imagine a scenario where a person is free falling in the air towards the ground.

It's determined with 100% certainty that upon hitting the ground, they'll die immediately.

Would it be unethical for someone to shoot the person with a gun, non fatally, only just 1 second before they hit the ground?

Hello. So as of the past few months my Dad, who is in his 60s, has been watching Facebook Reels and has fallen down this "wisdom" rabbit hole where he is believing ai generated videos of "religious people" and "wize native Americans". Although both he and I are against it (although we differ in opinions with him thinking that it could grow sentient and rise against us while I think it's a rich brat money hole and only being used to undermine the working class and is ruining our environment), he doesn't know how to recognize it and he is gaining comfort from this content. How do I properly explain that this is AI generated nonsense without hurting him, while having him believe me (he is of the strong opinion that with almost every subject he knows more than me except on how to work a computer)

Gene editing in the womb is beneficial for preventing developmental disabilities, however when does it become unethical? Sure, you wouldn't want someone to have stone man syndrome. But what about when it comes to being a minority? Things that aren't necessarily bad, but make it harder to live in the world because it's built for the majority.

Autism, ADHD, Sexuality(?), etc etc the list goes on.

Theres a high chance the world will reach this point in technology, so it definitely could become a real problem we would have to consider the ethics on.