Lifeboat Ethics Essay

When we say lifeboat, this is pertaining to a metaphor that is focused on the significance of providing a humanitarian way of helping other individuals. This is an ethical situation of saving other individuals whenever they need something significant to improve their lifestyle. The ethical issue of lifeboat is focused on providing sustainability for the marginalized sectors of the population. These are the minorities who have scarce or no resources in order to sustain their longevity or productivity in the society. Lifeboat pertains to the growing problems of poverty in our society, which means that government institutions are stepping up to prevent people from migrating to other countries that are undocumented. This is because it could risk their lives by being exposed to criminal and terrorist elements of the society.

Lifeboat is referred to a situation wherein there is an inevitable amount of population experiencing the cruelest way of living their life to the fullest terms. The reason behind is that they are unable to secure a life that should have been an important factor of being productive. The ethical norm in this situation is halted because they were not given proper social welfare sustainability by the local government unit. One major issue is a financial status of the country wherein it is brought about by low economic development. The economic integrity of a nation has been essentially hampering minority groups to receive the rightful care in order to survive. This means that minority groups were ethically deprived because there is a lesser amount of subsidies provided by the local government unit as a way to promote their welfare and integrity as a member of the population.

There are scenarios wherein lifeboat ethics has been tarnished by several government institutions. One example is the transcontinental migration of Africans to flee from their violent community towards Europe. Similarly with the Latin American migrants that are moving from their violent and corrupt societies from South and Central America towards the United States to pursue a better lifestyle. Affected members of the population have one major goal, which is to seek a better life as well as to have a greener pasture. Some Asian countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia are also seeking asylum after arriving in Australia from their countries to have a better future to a land that is peaceful without any risk of being harmed. The problem with these migrants is the threat of terrorism because there are other members of the terrorist organizations that are posing as migrants to reach their target countries and then will start terrorist campaigns.

The ethical dilemma of lifeboat circumstances is the ability of the law enforcement agencies to produce abusive practices towards the migrants that best represents a lifeboat ethics. The reason behind is that some migrants were thought to be members of a criminal organization or terrorist group basing their tattoos or the Islamic names that could pose a risk to the security of the society. Physical abuse, torture, illegal detention, and executions of presumed terrorist or members of criminal organizations were usually being applied by government forces in the United States, European Union, and Australia. As a result, human rights were violated as a result of these abusive practices that have led to public scandal due to an inhuman practice towards undocumented immigrants (Doleac & Stein, 2013).

Reference

Doleac, Jennifer L. & Stein, Luke C.D. (2013). “The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes”. The Economic Journal. 123 (572): F469–F492.