Can the Green Party’s Holier-Than-Thou Attitude Survive Its Fallible Disciples?
Moral self-licensing and the risk of ethical blind spots
Duncan Greive wrote an interesting exploration of the seemingly endless string of ethical and integrity lapses from the Green Party in recent years. It’s entitled “Can the Green Party’s holy mission survive its fallible disciples?” and the basic thesis is that the people involved may be struggling in the crossfire of:
an unrelenting expectation for personal and ideological perfection; and
a consequentialist approach to moral decisions.
Duncan suggests that these pressures may be contributing to a cycle of high expectations and significant stress, leading to the scandals we have seen plague the party. In other words, they set too high of a standard for themselves and can’t maintain it as imperfect vessels of a just cause.
A more jaundiced look at the same phenomena
Perhaps because I have a more sceptical view about the Green’s holy mission, I also have more sceptical thoughts about why everything keeps going wrong for the party.
There is a concept known as “moral self-licensing" that can play a role in scandals involving ethical and moral lapses.
The basic idea is that individuals who perceive themselves to be morally superior often feel they have earned credits that permit them to engage in less ethical behaviours subsequently. The importance and righteousness of the mission absolves - or at least diminishes - the gravity of transgressions not forgivable for those on a lower moral plane.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Blue Review to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.