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The Once-ler kicks off the song by asking the duck if the
duck thinks that he is bad. The duck
cannot talk and simply quacks back to everything that the Once-ler asks, and
the Once-ler takes that as an agreement that he is a good person. I think this symbolizes that people often
hear what they want to hear—regardless of if it is the truth. Our textbook discussed how and why honest
people sometimes do dishonest things; many people who engage in unethical
behaviors do not consider themselves to be dishonest people. Bowman and West (2015) referred to this as
the “fudge factor” and elaborated that this notion occurs as people contemplate just how much "bad" they can do while still being a "good" person. Bowman and West (2015) further discussed how many people find it easier to act in unethical manners when there is more distance between them and the actual act; an example of this that they provided in the text was that if a person nudged his golf-ball with his shoe to inch it closer to the hole, this would likely be "easier" for him to do than to actually lean down and physically pick up the ball to move it. The latter is blatant cheating; whereas, someone could justify the former action as an accident to minimize the guilt/blame. I wonder how much fudging has to occur before a person will no longer feel that they are an honest person. At what point do people cross the line?
At one point in the song, the Once-ler sings something along the lines
of money makes the world go round, which shows that he is starting to lose his
moral compass and get lost in the profits.
He even tries to justify his actions by saying that he is boosting the
economy, so he questions how this can possibly be bad? Furthermore, he sings that he cannot be bad
because a portion of his profits go to “charity” although who knows which one
or how much, if it is even true at all (the guy winking made me think
otherwise). I think that while the
Once-ler started out feeling guilty about breaking his word to the Lorax and
cutting down the trees, he eventually lost sight of his moral compass and could
only see dollar signs. The Once-ler was
not a “bad” character at the beginning of the movie; on the contrary, he was
one of the “good” guys just trying to succeed in life.
Last week we had a class debate about whether
or not people are born evil, or if evilness is something that people learn over
the years. Students had good arguments
for both sides, but ultimately there was no definitive answer. Personally, I think that people are born
good, and their interactions with others and societal influences cause people
to engage in good or evil behaviors. I
would be interested to hear what you all think, though! In the case of the Once-ler, I would argue that he was definitely born "good" but he let his personal desires get the best of him and cloud his judgment when he unethically engaged in the mass Thneed production. While this was just a movie, I think it is a good one to watch because of the adult implications sprinkled throughout it. The movie showed that there are consequences for our actions, even if we did not intend for them to be harmful. It showed the importance of thinking through decisions before going through with them, and it also showed how the Once-ler was full of remorse after-the-fact. It was not until Ted stumbled onto the Once-ler's property that the Once-ler had the opportunity to "right" his wrongs that he had previously made.
The word "UNLESS" appeared on a rock outside of the Once-ler's isolated house, and this rock reminded the Once-ler of an important message that wrapped up the movie. The message was that unless someone cares enough to do something, nothing is ever going to improve. The Once-ler was able to pass along the last seed to Ted, so that Ted would be able to grow a tree and hopefully reverse the cycle.
The very end of the movie had the following quote by Dr. Seuss, and I believe that it is a powerful message that should resonate within all of us:
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References:
Bowman, J. S., and West, J. P. (2015). Public service ethics: Individual and institutional responsibilities. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.
Hi Angela,
ReplyDeleteYou are totally right ethical decisions take place all the time all around us and we often do not even realize it. The fudge factor is a good point about how people tend to rationalize unethical behavior. Whether someone cheats by doing something small or big it's still cheating and therefor unethical. In this movie Ted only realized the error in his ways after he cut down all the trees at which point his business was ruined. I think that was an accurate portrayal of the short sighted decision making that is prevalent in business as well as government in many countries including the U.S. I agree with you that people are not born evil it is the environment in which people grow up that is the greatest determinant whether someone will become evil or not. In the case of the movie Ted was not evil but he acted as he did because he wanted to make his evil mother proud of him for once so that influenced him greatly. If Ted had grown up in a loving family I don't think he would have done what he did.