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piercehawkeye45 · 01-09-2008, 11:09 AM

First, not all drug dealers are like the stereotypical inner city version. They are not all immoral people who will kill people if screwed over and try to get people hooked on hard drugs. The reason many get into drug dealing is because they can make good money off it, they get access to pot, and it is a pretty easy job. It is much better than working at McDonald's for 60 hours a week and earning a fourth of the pay. A perfectly rational decision for the situation they are in.

The drug dealers I do know both got into for the above reasons. They only deal pot so they do not try to get people hooked into harder drugs for profit and they will not come after you if you screw them over, they blame themselves for being stupid. Both of these people are some of the nicest and smartest people I've met just making the best of an opportunity to get some extra cash and not slave away in a typical lower class job.

I would argue that the stereotypical inner city drug dealer is immoral but still making a rational decision. But I would also consider being a business executive at a tobacco companies immoral but a rational decision. In both situations you are trying to get people hooked on a drugs that could very well kill you with deceptive tactics for the sole purpose of making money off you. The only difference between the two is that the system favors business executives over drug dealers.

For your situation, it is harder to decide and the rationality and morality is subjective. If you broke a law, would you being hurting anyone or screwing anyone over? If you are, then it probably would be considered immoral. If it is just a bullshit law like the illegalization of marijuana, then it probably could be considered justifiable but I would have to actually see the situation to give my personal moral preference on it (I am not asking for the situation, just stating that fact).

Rationality is harder. It is easy for the drug dealing and illegal migrant scenario because there are two extremes. Would you rather work your entire life as a low skill low pay worker that has to do a lot of manual labor and constantly worrying about even basic economic stability or would you rather get a good paying job with little manual labor and never have to worry about economic stability if you break a few laws and maybe even commit some (very) immoral acts. Then you have to take in social forces into consideration. The inner city does not value hard work as much as many other areas so the pride in working hard and earning what you get in the typical sense is not a strong factor as getting an easy buck through hustling. For them, drug dealing is perfectly rational and I agree.

I already explained my stance on illegal migration with rationality.

For your situation it is much harder because you probably have some sense of economic stability even though I'm sure you do not feel economic freedom. You still are worrying about bills and other factors but not as far as feeding your kids or putting a roof over there head (this is an assumption that you are in a typical middle class situation). Is going to jail worth that risk? I would say no and I think you would agree with that, hence why you have no broken the law. I think you said you have children and going to jail would be very bad in your situation unlike someone who sells drugs who usually do not have children any many, being black, know that 1/3 of their race go to jail anyways. The social factors that affect you for making these decisions are not the same that affect them so it is expected that there will be some overlap on what is considered rational and sometimes morality. This is another example of how middle class solutions do not always work for the lower class and how lower class solutions do not always work for the middle class.

01-09-2008, 11:09 AM	#40
piercehawkeye45 Franklin Pierce Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,695	First, not all drug dealers are like the stereotypical inner city version. They are not all immoral people who will kill people if screwed over and try to get people hooked on hard drugs. The reason many get into drug dealing is because they can make good money off it, they get access to pot, and it is a pretty easy job. It is much better than working at McDonald's for 60 hours a week and earning a fourth of the pay. A perfectly rational decision for the situation they are in. The drug dealers I do know both got into for the above reasons. They only deal pot so they do not try to get people hooked into harder drugs for profit and they will not come after you if you screw them over, they blame themselves for being stupid. Both of these people are some of the nicest and smartest people I've met just making the best of an opportunity to get some extra cash and not slave away in a typical lower class job. I would argue that the stereotypical inner city drug dealer is immoral but still making a rational decision. But I would also consider being a business executive at a tobacco companies immoral but a rational decision. In both situations you are trying to get people hooked on a drugs that could very well kill you with deceptive tactics for the sole purpose of making money off you. The only difference between the two is that the system favors business executives over drug dealers. For your situation, it is harder to decide and the rationality and morality is subjective. If you broke a law, would you being hurting anyone or screwing anyone over? If you are, then it probably would be considered immoral. If it is just a bullshit law like the illegalization of marijuana, then it probably could be considered justifiable but I would have to actually see the situation to give my personal moral preference on it (I am not asking for the situation, just stating that fact). Rationality is harder. It is easy for the drug dealing and illegal migrant scenario because there are two extremes. Would you rather work your entire life as a low skill low pay worker that has to do a lot of manual labor and constantly worrying about even basic economic stability or would you rather get a good paying job with little manual labor and never have to worry about economic stability if you break a few laws and maybe even commit some (very) immoral acts. Then you have to take in social forces into consideration. The inner city does not value hard work as much as many other areas so the pride in working hard and earning what you get in the typical sense is not a strong factor as getting an easy buck through hustling. For them, drug dealing is perfectly rational and I agree. I already explained my stance on illegal migration with rationality. For your situation it is much harder because you probably have some sense of economic stability even though I'm sure you do not feel economic freedom. You still are worrying about bills and other factors but not as far as feeding your kids or putting a roof over there head (this is an assumption that you are in a typical middle class situation). Is going to jail worth that risk? I would say no and I think you would agree with that, hence why you have no broken the law. I think you said you have children and going to jail would be very bad in your situation unlike someone who sells drugs who usually do not have children any many, being black, know that 1/3 of their race go to jail anyways. The social factors that affect you for making these decisions are not the same that affect them so it is expected that there will be some overlap on what is considered rational and sometimes morality. This is another example of how middle class solutions do not always work for the lower class and how lower class solutions do not always work for the middle class.