Learning Virtue and Viciousness

From birth to death we learn many things, both ‘good’ and bad’, whether we realize it or not at the time. These include both virtues and ‘viciousnesses.’ Society and culture, along with what we experience throughout our lives, mold our thinking and shape the virtuous and vicious sides of us. Free will does still apply in this situation, as men all decide what stimuli and suggestions to respond to and imitate: deciding their own definitions of ‘virtue’’ and ‘vicious’.

Virtue commonly corresponds to moral ‘goodness’ and righteousness. All societies have some sort of moral structure: it defines civilizations and cultures. Without a moral goal to strive for, men would have no reason to act in any other manner than directly benefited their own wellbeing. As a result, societies bombard their members from infancy to death with messages of morally correct actions and behaviors. For instance, every person in the western world probably knows the story of Crying Wolf. This story describes the dangers of telling untruths, and so reinforces honesty as a moral value. Western culture constantly reinforces and introduces these messages in bedtime stories told to children, as well as in movies, books, and lessons passed from parents to their children. These stories and fables all attempt to teach what is morally good and virtuous.

Just as men can learn virtue, so can we learn viciousness. Vicious, the opposite of virtue, isn’t taught in the same way as virtue, because in most cases society discourages viciousness. Nevertheless, every day ideas and images of viciousness invade our thinking, though we may not agree with the ideas. Through learning virtues, we learn their opposites: ‘viciousnesses’. These can appeal to different people to varying extents, and affect behavior as a result, even though society frowns upon such actions or beliefs. Modern movies, television shows, and novels sometimes have thieves, vigilantes, assassins, gangsters, and other criminal personalities as main characters. Because of the story, people become caught up in the action and plot, and forget that while the characters may seem noble or righteous in the story, in the real world, the characters the moviegoer, watcher, or reader ‘roots for,’ exist as nothing more than a terrorist, murderer, or criminal. These themes occur constantly in the media, and while our society condemns all the portrayed actions and behaviors, we absorb the ideas nonetheless. To highly simplify the point, a man might think, “If I think I’m right, why should I follow the rules? Why shouldn’t I take matters into my own hands and do what I think I should?” While this may seem well and good, and in fact may be, society will never encourage this type of thinking, because if everyone thought this way the world would end up chaotic. Society, without directly meaning to, teaches us all about ‘viciousnesses’.

Free will becomes a factor in individuals deciding their understanding of virtue, and vicious, and which to emulate or act upon. A man learns both throughout his life, and so society shapes his opinions and views, but he also can discern what he wants, and how he wants to go about doing it. A man in need of money knows, though his society’s values, the virtuous choice is to work hard, or he could steal the money instead. He knows the difference between virtue and vicious, but can still decide whether or not he wants to act virtuous or vicious depending on the situation. We cannot control what we society and culture teach us, as society permeates everything and everyone, but we can control which ‘shoulder-angel’ we listen to.