Thoughts on Two Essays: Peter Singer’s, "What Should a Billionaire Give?", and George Gessert’s, "An Orgy of Power".

[This was originally written for an exercise in an essay class, as were some of the other blogs found herein.]

I’d like to say a little about Peter Singer’s, "What Should a Billionaire Give?", and George Gessert’s, "An Orgy of Power". Both essays take moral positions on controversial subjects, and argue well for their points of view.

In "What Should a Billionaire Give?", Singer is largely putting things into perspective regarding charitable actions. How much should a billionaire give, and by extension what should each of us with more modest means contribute? He immediately and effectively draws scenarios that cause us to question our behavior. Singer ranges through a heady mix of thoughts drawn from philosophers and successful businessmen to the everyday person.

One definition of philosophy is ‘way of life’. By that token, we are all philosophers. Each of us makes decisions everyday as to the best way to conduct ourselves. Some philosophies are more institutional than others, looking for guidance from religion, politics, family and a host of other references. Some philosophy is as simple as doing what one thinks is necessary to survive. Most of us can relate to that idea. How many people have said, “A person’s gotta eat.”

But do they? As the author notes, millions of people throughout the world struggle to find enough food, medicine and shelter. The juxtaposition of a billionaire on one hand and millions of destitute people on the other is a powerful image, despite our frequent ability to quickly move to another subject as soon as it is brought up. Singer would prefer we stuck around and pay attention as he uses ethical reasoning and statistics to show just how much we can do to help others if we choose to do so.

Tellingly, Singer imagines the top ten percent of America’s taxpayers using a sliding scale formula for donating a portion of their respective incomes. Arguably, these people would still be moderately to fantastically well off after their donations, entailing a massive improvement in the welfare of people around the world. Singer has written a commendable, utilitarian essay.

Gessert, in his essay, "An Orgy of Power", takes on another subject that most people would prefer not to think about, including the author. Torture. He describes not just the morality of torture, but its historical application in America. Most interestingly to me, he discusses the effects of torture not just on the victims and their families, but on the torturers themselves. The act of torture is both the outcome of dark impulses and a breeder of more darkness. Torturers become distorted by their activity. Gessert’s quotation of Jean Amery, a Nazi torture victim, is compelling and suggests an author worth seeking in his own right. He also observes that Machiavelli, a model for many seeking political power and a victim of torture, may have been corrupted by his experience, emerging convinced of the inherent evil of mankind.

Gessert writes this in the wake of 911 and the revelations of torture committed by our country at Abu Ghraib and other locations around the world. His writing is eloquent and timely more than a year later as we ready ourselves to elect a new president. The Republican candidate, John McCain, is a victim of torture himself, and an icon of courage. He most often takes a position against torture, a posture at odds with many of his Republican colleagues. Despite that; he is more hawk than dove. Has he been altered in a way similar to Gessert’s speculation of Machiavelli? Not obviously, but that conversation has been managed carefully by McCain, and as noted above, most people would prefer not to talk about it.