Are people inherently stupid and selfish?

Are people inherently stupid and selfish? I’d prefer to think not, but today I’ve listened to the radio as I’ve worked, and I’m left in some doubt. The catalyst for this is the moron from Fine Gael (an Irish opposition political party, for any international readers) who actually went on national radio and said people should be allowed drink and drive.

Seriously. In his radio interview yesterday, 50-year-old Michael Fitzgerald admitted that he gets behind the wheel after three of four pints and sees nothing wrong with this.

Remember, this is an elected representative we’re talking about here – really the mind boggles. He’s now been thrown out of Fine Gael (probably as fast as the party heads could scribble off a press release) but what’s really interesting is the way Fitzgerald has attempted to rationalise his moronic idea.

He claims that there are thousands of elderly men in rural Ireland who live in remote locations and who have no choice but to drink and drive, because they have no other way of getting to the pub and back.

He also said that these guys – and gobsmackingly he included himself in his comment – can easily handle four or five pints and not be affected by the alcohol at all. According to him, they are perfectly safe behind the wheel and his rational is that most car accidents are caused by 22-year-olds driving dangerously and that the law should law off innocent old codgers, who only want to sink their five pints of Guinness a night. And sure what harm.

Now, if you squish up your eyes and squint, you can sort of see that he has a point. Kind of.

There really are many older farmers stuck in the back of beyond for whom the local pub is the only interaction they have with the outside world. For these guys, the change in culture (and law) in Ireland over the last 20 years has been hard, as they are being told they can no longer smoke in the pub and they can no longer drive home.

I have some sympathy as the world changes out from under their feet, however . . . that’s just tough. We have to ask if we think it’s acceptable that we allow people to be killed by drunk drivers simply because it puts a tiny section of society out? I don’t think so.

Around 15 minutes ago, a phone in political radio show had some caller on trying to defend Fitzgerald, essentially trying to pitch the idea that really the fuss was all down to an anti-rural bias on behalf of the urban city slicker media. This guy made a comment almost as offensive as the first idiot. He said that he didn’t see any problem with sinking a few black ones before driving, on the basis that he’d probably not be caught by the Gardai.

In other words, his main concern was not that he might kill somebody, or lose control of his car or even fall asleep (which happens in a startling number of fatal accidents), but rather that he might get caught. In other words, he fundamentally disagreed that it’s dangerous to drink and drive. How selfish. I hope I don’t meet that wanker on the road as I drive home late at night.

There’s a bigger question behind all this – would you do something you knew was inherently wrong if you knew nobody would catch you? This is literally an age old question and any first year philosophy student will have come across the issue, thrashed out by Plato in The Republic.

Plato tells a story in The Republic concerning the famous Ring of Gyges. In the story, a shepherd named Gyges finds a magical ring that when worn one way makes the wearer invisible and invincible, and when worn the other, does nothing. Until finding the ring, Gyges appears to be an upstanding honest man, but can't resist the temptation and uses the powers of the ring to enter the palace, seduce the queen, assassinate the king, seize power for himself and exercise it exclusively for his own benefit.

In Plato's Republic, the person telling the story concludes that what distinguishes a good man from a bad man, or those who appear to be good or bad is simply prudence and hypocrisy. In other words, the only thing separating a good man from a bad man is concern for being caught. If we could become invisible and invincible, all taboos would disappear and everyone would attempt only to satisfy their personal pleasures or serve their own interests.

In this case, if there was no one to pass judgement on your actions, would you get in the car and drive with a few pints on board?

Personally, I prefer to believe that the majority of people are not selfish and not stupid. But sometimes that belief gets worryingly challenged.