Masked Morals

I watied to post a few days after class because I have been wondering about morals and masks. If we can define morals as an individuals standards of right and wrong then those should not change for that person at any time. If someone puts on a mask, that does not change their personhood, it mearly is an alternative face that hides the real you from being seen in public. Being seen or not does not change your morals. Or at least it should not. Thinking that you become another person when you put on a mask is problematic. Let us pretend that everyone has his or her own secret identity. Then, in the time when we encounter strangers or people we think are wrong there is no problem with breaking their fingers or questioning them about whatever we want. Granted, one would have to be strong enough to enforce that kind of abuse on others but it is not unrealitic for that to take place for the majority of people. That means when you take off the mask you are vulnerable to the attacks of anyone else in masks. This would create a society that would be entirely unproductive other than creating an amazing personal defense system to ward off your crazy neighbors.

In the real world we do not wear masks, but we enjoy the idea of being someone else. What is it in this someone else with a different face that allows our violent urges to emerge? I do not think it is correct to suppose that we can change our morals based on our appearance. It is the same being within, and therefore the watchmen (specifically in the choice to blow up new york) are morally out of line. In the case of Rarshach the man has a duel personality disorder because he cannot handle the real him. His morals are founded on the mask. In his case, he did choose one way of being and stuck with it, but for personal reasons found himself more comfortable with a mask. This does not make his actions acceptible, but at least he had one moral code for himself, not two.