Readcash - Responsibility and Ethical Dilemma
What I love about writing is that it develops consciousness just like Yoga. You become more aware of everything about you and around you. Writing helps to extend that consciousness to different spaces and dimensions. You start looking for answers that never appeared to have questions before. You end up looking at old puzzles and your known answers don't fit anymore. The conventional structures don't hold the same ground, logic or reason. This means treading new paths looking to find new answers. I have been on read.cash for less than a week and it has led me to tread one such path and find answers about 'Responsibility & ethical dilemma'.
Let's suppose you are in a toxic relationship or you are subjected to unethical behaviour at work, is it your responsibility to take an action. Your inaction makes you a complicit and that leads to an ethical dilemma. Do you get out, report or stay. I am in a sort of ethical dilemma.
Everyone knows what responsibility means or at least superficially we understand what it entails. It is a certain sort of duty or obligation which owes its origin to the existence of its expectation. I think I made that too complicated.
The reason that got me thinking about it might sound too naive. But at some sort of consciousness, it has helped me question something that I have never thought about, at least not consciously. Before we delve further into it, let me share how I got here. I recently posted my introductory article titled "Being Me" on read.cash and as most writers do, I submitted it in the "Introduce Yourself" community. Fast forward to today, the article still shows pending and yet to be approved by the admin/moderator.
What does it mean? It means lesser people for my article to reach and in turn lesser impressions. A growing impatience within me because I want people to notice what I have written. I want them to read my story because that is the purpose. First impression is certainly important when you start any relationship.
What have I done? Between the time I posted the article and today, I reached out to both the admin and the moderator to remind them about my pending article. I waited more than 30 hrs before I dropped the comment. The admin was kind enough to respond back. It's almost 4 days now and I still don't see my article approved.
Are they responsible? This was the part which got me confused. A part of me thinks, they are, and a part of me doesn't. I don't know which part is right.
For all I know, they are busy with their own lives. They can have a thousand different reasons and all justified to not be available. Right!
Yes, they could. But they have been online since then.
How do you know that?
I have seen their articles and comments.
Ok, But why should they be responsible? Isn't this their personal community?
Yes, but with a certain purpose which makes them responsible towards other community members.
Even then, aren't you acting impatient? Its only 4 days.
And that is my dilemma. Am I wrong in expecting them to be responsible towards the community they have created? Is my expectation misplaced? And, my ethical dilemma is whether or not, to bring it up. But I did bring it up.
It was only then, I realised, it is more than my trivial story. At some level, we are all faced with situations where the responsibilities and dilemmas can get foggy. And what better way than to talk about it. I decided to write about it using my case as only an example to understand the deeper meaning.
There are times when it's not easy to see things clearly. Marking that line gets difficult and we can easily find ourselves entangled in spaces where making a certain choice becomes hard. If there is a clear understanding of how we think about certain positions, associating responsibilities might be easy.
Read.cash has been life changing for so many people. I have read stories about so much good done to so many lives. It has found a real use case. Before I see the wrath of other users, let me straighten this up beforehand. This is only an example to drive home an understanding.
What if this portal, that we all are so proud and part of, decides to shut down unexpectedly. Does it have a moral responsibility of informing us in advance. Does it owe us that?
I don't think it owes us anything and yet I saw an article titled, "Download your articles and self-host" from read.cash. This article has been posted a year ago for the eventuality of read.cash going out of business or servers being confiscated. Although, I only wish for it to keep doing well so that it can keep touching lives and promoting BCH and content creation.
The intention of this article is to strike something deeper and more conscious. When you take on a certain function, like the admin/moderator, you commit to some degree of responsibility. The role, consequences and the obligations all form part of it. You might not be answerable to me directly but you are to the platform and to the ecosystem.
A society, family, or community is only as strong as the people who are part of it. For a community to do well, support system has to be holistic. And that goes for responsibilities too.
I feel one of the major reasons for things to be a certain way is lack of accountability. "This is the way it’s done,” or “It's not my responsibility” are some of the common reasons for us to have an acceptance of such behaviour. Over time, we get used to accepting the wrong norms in some capacity.
What is an ethical dilemma? Let me explain using an example that I read.
Let us suppose you are interviewing for a job. You have interviewed at different places and are waiting for the responses. You verbally accept the first offer that comes in which is not due for next two weeks. Shortly after, you get a second offer which is better and perhaps your preferred employer. Since you are yet to start, you face an ethical dilemma. Do you decline the second offer because you have already accepted the first or accept the second offer. Would you live up to your word reflecting honesty and responsibility or take up a more self-interested position. There is nothing wrong accepting the second offer as long as you explain your reasons to the first employer. In many cases, such as this, it’s not so much what your decision is but how you explain it that counts.
You have a responsibility to inform the first employer otherwise it is just another selfish act. Our minds, our positions, our choices, all do change over the time but it is important to explain others who are being affected by it.
Or, the present state of the world where we are living amongst the pandemic. Do you think health workers face moral dilemma? More than often, there have been situations of disagreement between doctors and patient's family or the patient regarding the type of treatment. Who is to decide what is right? Do you use a Kantian approach or a Utilitarianism approach. Just a food for thought.
What is it they say about power? With power comes greater responsibility.
My intention is not to pinpoint the admin/moderator, for that would be too petty. I only wanted that as an example to drive something more meaningful and deep. A state of sense of responsibility and how to overcome ethical dilemma. It's not easy to make the right choice. It can bring the worst out of the best and the best out of the worst in different situations.
Sometimes we don't want to create a negative non cohesive space or at times out of respect or out of choice. We may end up doing the exact same thing when we are caught in such situations ourselves. Doing right is not about the choices around but more about the right choice. No one is saying that would be easy especially if you a moral compass.
Hopefully, I should see my post approved at some point in the future or perhaps not after writing this article. Either way I am good with the outcome whichever way that leans.
Thank you for reading. I would really appreciate you commenting your thoughts. It would help me to improve and see things from another perspective.
