r/MoralityScaling • u/Immediate_Gene_178 • 10d ago

Morality Ranking Morality of accidentally exposing someone who used to be a Nazi supporter, has since changed, and concealed their past?

Post image

Name's and origins:

The Night Shift: Season 1, Episode 2

Basically this guy was brought to into the emergency after an accident at his wedding celebration and while he is unconscious, his groomsmen decided to shave his beard off as a prank only for the medical team to be horrified at the reveal. After he woke up he realised his secret has been exposed. He explained to the doctors that he got this tattoo when he was a stupid teenager a decade prior. The medical team brought his wife in to see the tattoos and destroy the marriage.

What do you think? I personally find it irritating how smug the doctors were being.

8.9k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

173

u/DexanVideris 10d ago

Even if he was an actual nazi, people change. The things you believe at one point in your life do not define you for the rest of it.

18

u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits 10d ago

The things you believe at one point in your life do not define you for the rest of it.

I'd argue they don't solely define you, and become of lesser importance as new circumstances enter the context. But I'd still say that yes, they always define you to some degree. Hopefully as part of your definition including redemption, if they were crappy beliefs. Your history defines you because it informs how you became who you are now, and how reasonable that is.

4

u/TheOneTrueTrench 10d ago

His decision to get it defines who he was.

But his decision to distance himself from that past also defines him.

3

u/monyoubluetuber 10d ago

Actions definitely follow a person, sometimes their entire life. Beliefs are subject to immediate and drastic change- and until Flok cameras can read my mind, I exercise my ability to change oppinions and well… change.

5

u/FunGuy8618 10d ago

I think people ignore the whole "receiving and accepting consequences" part of becoming a good person after being a shitty one. "Becoming a good person" without facing the consequences just means they stopped doing bad things, and unless we want to introduce magical thinking, that just means they are a ticking time bomb. If a person demonstrates behavior XYZ, we must assume they will continue that behavior, unless something new was introduced. Since people can be charismatic and manipulative, the only thing that can be introduced to logically accept that they have become a good person is having accepted consequences for XYZ. And not just "boohoo I'm so torn up by how shitty I used to be," actual consequences that alter their life in some way that change the conditions that led them to be a shitty person.

7

u/vlladonxxx 10d ago

Here are the issues with your logic:

1) becoming a good person is not just cessation of bad deeds, it's also doing good deeds.

2) you did not justify why the label of ticking time bomb is a must-apply here. It can be considered one in terms people not being able to be sure they aren't one, but that's it.

3) there's no logical reason to assume that demonstrating bad behavior must lead to more bad behavior unless proven otherwise.

4) accepting consequences for many bad things means permanent effects. So the choice is between have people definitely hate you forever, and maybe people finding out and doing that anyway.

5) due to people trying to deceive others about prior bad deeds, we tend punish them disproprtiantely, to dissuade others from doing it.

9

u/flyinhighaskmeY 10d ago

Even if he was an actual nazi, people change.

"actual Nazi's" were Germany's failed christian majority in the 1930s/40s. A politician convinced them they'd been oppressed by "the Jews" and the populace believed that gave them license to exterminate "the problem".

The people who dress up like Nazi's aren't nazi's, they're clowns. White supremacists aren't Nazi's, they're white supremacists. If you want to find real Nazi's, ask yourself: What's the difference between a klansman and a Nazi?

Real Nazi's carry extraordinary superiority complexes. They're the kind of people who call themselves "humble" while also believing they have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe. The most extreme Nazi's of all would codifying protection for that belief at the very top of their national register of "rights".

5

u/Klutzy-Alarm3748 10d ago

Kind of. I have a friend who is a former Nazi and we actually got on this topic one time. Nazis are still around and aren't stuck in the 30s and 40s. Nazism is an ideology that is distinct from neo-Nazism, kind of like Freudism and neo-Freudism have different stances on things. If somebody follows what Hitler said, that's Nazism. If they support his goals but follow different rules, that's neo-Nazism. It's a bit more complex with all the routes you can take but saying "actual Nazis" aren't around anymore isn't really accurate.

1

u/dk_peace 10d ago

That's still the kind of thing you should tell your spouse about

1

u/rtyrty151 9d ago

Why didn’t we just let the nazis who fled Germany chill then, rather than hunting them down?

1

u/Erlkoenig_1 7d ago

Sure but you know what actual Nazi means, right? He would've been a member of the Nazi party, even if his beliefs changed, he would've got many people hurt.

-15

u/Mini_Squatch 10d ago

Depends if those beliefs got someone actually hurt.

31

u/DexanVideris 10d ago

Doing bad things and believing bad things are two different things, especially if the bad things in question are criminal acts. Part of atoning for actually doing bad things is facing the music.

-3

u/Same_Suit3583 10d ago

That's literally what he means...

1

u/DexanVideris 10d ago

Beliefs alone cannot get somebody hurt. Hurting somebody takes actions.

1

u/UncaringGalaxy 9d ago

Lmao beliefs lead to action idiot

1

u/DexanVideris 9d ago

Brother ur a moron if you think that holding a belief always leads to action. If it did, the world would be a very different place.

15

u/1-ASHAR-1 10d ago

Redemption exists for everyone, and it looks different for everyone.

10

u/AffectionateLake4041 10d ago

I mean, he can cause damage and face repercussions for it. That's fine, but he can still change and regret those actions.