Muse – Loyalty and Responsibility

Recent days have been a prime time to muse these two opposing points. Loyalty and responsibility aren’t always at odds, but at times they become so in our various societies. Determining where they mix and mingle can be tricky, depending on your values and ideologies. The place I see them clashing most often is the military. Prominent amongst those certain military issues is the current flap over tormenting prisoners in Iraq.

The general doctrine of the military is to follow orders, no questions asked. It’s always been a pet peeve of mine. I question everything, just about all the time. It gets me in trouble at times, but I don’t seek to stop because questioning is how I learn. I’ve never considered the military an option for that reason. While I can shut up and follow directions in the heat of the moment and I understand that aspect of military dogma, outside of that do or die situation, I couldn’t go without my ability to question.

When you look at the issue of who should take what blame for the incident, things get murky in my opinion. You have to evaluate a lot of options. Did or didn’t the person in question know what was going on? Was he or she just following orders? Did the person seek to try and stop what was going on, only to be rebuffed? Should they have tried harder? Did they actually participate in the events in question?

How much should ‘just following orders’ factor in? Should it vindicate the grunts involved? At least one family member of a soldier. But the “he’s a good boy” argument can’t weigh in on this, really. Evenhandedness needs to be the order of the day as eyes all over are watching us and what we do.

The same two ideals come into play here at home. Loyalty and responsibility. When does loyalty to an ideal at home clash against your responsibility to be aware and question things in a realistic sense. One refrain I hear often from arguers in favor of this and that is the God angle. Which is all well and good, but from my viewpoint this tends to lead many to shirk their responsibility to be aware on a topic. Trusting to God to put the right man in the White House(an argument I’ve heard spoken), clashes with one’s responsibility to be politically aware and to make practical decisions when it comes to your own actions. Even the ‘I think God picked Bush’ people are a little more responsible, because at least they have some sort of choice, even if(in my opinion once more), it’s a horribly uninformed choice.

When loyalty and responsibility clash directly, which should win out? Part of loyalty is a development of trust. When you trust someone, it feeds loyalty. The sort of camaraderie that loyalty breeds is important to us as a species. Yet even the most loyal should not elt this sort of devotion blind them, hence a responsibility to remain vigilant, even with those who you feel the strongest loyalty to. If a friend you’re deeply loyal to is doing something that is wrong, it’s a personal responsibility to try and stop them from doing it. Even if they seek to demand loyalty in regard to said wrong act.

In the other direction, being overly critical and questioning can be a problem. I’ve run into it occasionally. At times an act might seem wrong, but can ultimately be right. Bush likes to use this portrayal often. These are bad times, but they’ll result in good is the general message that he seeks to spread throughout the masses. Is he right? Personally, I don’t think so, but others do think he’s right. It’s a matter of our personal loyalty and responsibility to decide which we believe for ourselves.

I’m a loyal guy. I’m loyal to the US. I want what’s best for it and I want to do what I can to make sure the best happens for our country. But I hold myself responsible in evaluating what is being done in the name of of our country. And if I think it hurts us. I’m the first who will speak out against it, as my loyalty is to the ideal of America first and my responsibility to it comes before everything save my loyalty to the species. The president is not the first that I’m loyal to. Even when it comes to him, I’m only so loyal as befits a public servant in authority.

Loyalty to Bush(and any president before and to come after him) is another point where I see people shirking their responsibility before their loyalty. Those who call for people to get behind the president no matter what are unbalanced in their loyalty and responsibility. It is important to support public figures, but only when you believe them to be doing right. Then your responsibility comes forward and you must act. To automatically back someone because of who they are is to ignore your responsibility to be aware when they do wrong.

In today’s world more than ever, there needs to be a balance between loyalty and responsibility. No one should demand utter loyalty that is without question. It’s the way of sheep to go with the flock and the American people should not be sheep to anyone. This country was founded by revolutionaries because they felt the responsibility to change what they saw as wrong. It behooves Americans to do the same, even when it is the government that does wrong. Or when a friend does wrong. Or a societal authority does wrong. If no one speaks against it, it is unlikely to be corrected. Look to your loyalties, but never forget your responsibilities to yourself, your society and your species.