Demo

"UNC Chapel Hill Shooting Leaves Three Muslim Students Dead"

RLS

• On February 10, 2015, newly wed couple Deah Barakat(23) and his wife Yusor Abu- Salha(21), along with her sister Razan Abu Salha(19) were killed in their home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
• A woman called 911 after hearing screams coming from the apartment complex, along with gunshots
• An hour after the incident, their neighbor Craig Stephen Hicks(46), turned himself into the police department 20 miles away
• Many claim that the murder was a result of an ongoing parking dispute between the neighbors
• Although many believe the motive to driven by islamaphobia and racism, including the parents of the victims

Counterclaim:

Consequentialism

Consequentialism

The class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's actions are the basis for determining the rightness or wrongness of the conduct.

"The ends justify the means"

For Example:

The Chapel Hill Shooting (2015)

Ex.

• Prior to the night of the murders, there would be two objective sides to the dispute
• The newly wed victims in the complex would have stated that they were in fact being harassed by their prejudicial neighbor who threatened them frequently
• While the other side, from Stephen Hicks's perspective, would argue that the altercations with the couple was in no way racially driven but simply out of frustration for the pairs lack of understanding over the parking regulations in the apartment complex.
• Hence, Hicks reasoning may seems valid and deduced logically to hold merit, yet the sad reality was he was rationalising his discrimination

Counter-claim:

Rationalisation

• The manufacturing of reasons to justify one's pre-existing belief.
• In psychology it is a defense mechanism that involves the justification of an unacceptable behavior, thought or feeling in a logical manner, avoiding the true reason for the action.
• This defensive maneuver is often called “making excuses.”

Rationalisation

• Chapel Hill Shooting
• Prior to the murders Hick's reasoning may have seemed valid
• Yet as a society, we must avoid confusing reason with rationalization
• It is now apparent that Hick's argument was in fact driven by pre-conceived prejudice against those of the Islamic faith or Islamaphobia
• The extreme, unnecessary, violence of that night reveal that Hicks was rationalising his prejudice rather than reasoning.
• Would his prejudice have been revealed had the crime not been murder but something else?
• Would society have confused valid reasoning or hateful rationalisation?

Shared Knowledge Vs. Personal Knowledge

Shared Knowledge: the total sum of knowledge which we can communicate to one another.

Personal Knowledge: knowledge that a particular individual has of the world.

Shared v. Personal

• Individuals, specifically minorities, over-time develop their own definition of discrimination, based on experiences
• While the dictionary states a universal definition of discrimination, true discrimination originates from interactions we have within society

The Donald Trump

Effect:

RLS #2

• Since the 2016 election, certain actions by Donald Trumps administration have sparked an Emotional Contagion within society
• Emotional Contagion: the tendency for emotions such as anger or fear to spread quickly through a group of people

• For Example: The muslim ban and the proposed wall between Mexico
• Many argue these actions have sparked prejudice with individual and provoked then towards act of discrimination (Consequentialism)
• Although some claim the ideas are for the prosperity of society (Utilitarianism)