Review: The Moral Black

Hole
Joydeep Naskar
Roll: 1611057
st
1 Year Integrated MSc,
National Institute of Science Education and Research,
Bhubaneswar
Human beings are the most intelligent and intricate species on Earth. Their
advanced technology and innovative skills have made them the masters of the
planet a long time ago. But systematic scientific approaches to explain natural
phenomena started only a few centuries back. At the same time, approaches
were also made to study human behaviour and social phenomena. The study of
sociology continued and flourished to this date. The 20th century saw a wavechange in social orders and established systems. Revolutions, colonisation, wars
and independence are sound areas for sociological and historical research. In the
paper The Moral Black Hole, the authors Per Sandin and Misse Wester
discusses the change in human behaviour and increase in anarchy in daily life at
times of crisis, be it a natural disaster or a man-made crisis, such as war. The
authors also emphasize on the necessity of curfew or state-declared emergency
at such times. The underlying logic and principles behind such crises are
however avoided, and only the selfish, often immoral motives of human beings
at such times are highlighted, with some remedial suggestions of control and
management. Contradictory examples are also presented to remind the reader
that such a sociological theory cannot be generalised as a universal truth.
It is commonly believed that people become selfish and turn to immoral
behaviour in emergencies. This has been the basis for an argument justifying
extraordinary measures in emergencies. It states that if emergencies are not
curtailed, breakdown of moral norms threaten ('the moral black hole'). There are
a number of crises that we as individuals might face. Examples of such
individual crises are bereavement, losing one's job, or being diagnosed with a
serious illness. Those crises need not in the long run be bad for us. We might
learn from them, and emerge strengthened. Other crises are public or involved
are perceived to population, political stability, disasters such as hurricanes a
period of severe economic instability. Even from a moral point of view, crises

may contain opportunities for moral improvement. For instance, facing a risk of
death, at least in some situations, may be a way of cultivating the virtue of
courage. In a very similar manner, human also evolve from crisis. Mass
revolutions, civil wars or natural disasters change the socio-economic
geography of a region. However in mass scale, crisis are undesirable.
In present day, crises exist throughout the globe. More specifically, the
rising influence of terrorism in the middle-east and civil wars throughout the
country proves the existence of the moral black hole. Until a few years back, the
African nations also faced a similar civil war and conflict for natural resources.
It is a common assumption that when conflict strikes, there will be widespread
looting. The act of looting is defined as stealing or plundering of private goods
during a crisis, whereas in normal times it would be defined as burglary or theft.
In the context of a crisis, one might want to consider the reasons for looting or
stealing: if the objective is to steal food and water to ensure the survival of one's
family, it is quite different from stealing in order to sell to the highest bidder and
make a profit. The article however states the example of Hurricane Katrine,
moved in over the north-central Golf coast of North America in August 2005. It
has been described as 'an extraordinarily powerful and deadly hurricane that
carved a wide swath of catastrophic damage and inflicted large loss of life', and
'the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United
States'. The authors state that intervention of Government agencies or forces
ensure that rather than greedily guarding what people have, people help each
other and share resources. If looting in the wake of natural disasters is
uncommon, what about the equally common idea that selfishness is widespread
in such situations? After all, it seems sensible to assume that people will 'find
themselves pitted against one another in a competition for scarce food, water or
shelter' that such circumstances breed selfishness. However, the claim that
individuals turn on each other in competition for scarce resources in crises is not
supported by empirical findings. On the contrary, behaviour in the immediate
aftermath of a crisis is typically marked by altruism. This suggests that
selfishness is not the default behaviour of individuals experiencing a crisis but
that their behaviour is characterised by altruism, cooperation and cohesion.
Neither are people stricken by panic en masse during a disaster.
It seems, then, that the argument from the moral black hole rests on a
doubtful empirical premise. Does this invalidate the argument? It might seem
so. If there is very little evidence for the existence of a moral black in the wake
of natural disasters, and some evidence to the contrary, then it seems that
extraordinary measures with reference to the moral black hole are unjustified in
such situations. But it is not necessarily so.

What are we to make of this? The widespread fear of looting, panic flight, price
gouging and general selfishness in crises following natural disasters does not
seem warranted given the current empirical evidence. The existence of a 'moral
black hole' for such situations can therefore be called into question. Thus,
justifying extraordinary measures, such as state emergency powers, curfews,
deployment of troops in order to prevent expected looting, and so on, with
reference to a moral black hole does not appear justified. And, as we saw, the
possibility version of the moral-black-hole argument is also deeply problematic.
In Rwanda, the Balkans, Sudan and other war zones, there might indeed be real
moral black holes. Present day examples include Syria, Iraq and the territories
controlled by the Islamic States and other militant groups. Countries like Libya
and Afghanistan, where there is terror lingering on forehead are the places
where this moral black hole widens. However, what the authors wish to caution
against is the insufficiently reflected transfer of the moral-black-hole argument
to non-antagonistic situations. The evidence suggests that the moral black hole
is not an immediate concern in those situations. People should act accordingly.