Thread by @SalomeSibonex

An ethical argument for staying the fuck home during a pandemic: spiritualsoap.substack.com/p/weird-and-gd…

When making choices, we invoke normative ethics (how we choose A over B). Dealing with COVID-19, we can agree on a desired outcome: fewer sick people. Consequentialism is a form of normative ethics by which you choose the option that likely results in your desired outcome.

Hedonistic egoism is a form of consequentialism that prioritizes the outcome of your pleasure. Utilitarianism prioritizes what benefits the majority. For obtaining a consequence that will affect the majority & deciding whether to stay the fuck home, use utilitarianism.

Many people are still not convinced COVID-19 is serious enough to interrupt their usual hedonistic choices (not evil! We go to restaurants we like, not struggling restaurants -- hedonism). Public crises require decisions made in public interest, not self.

A useful answer to an individualistic culture that doesn't naturally act based on what benefits the majority is the theory of utilitarianism. You should stay the fuck home even if you aren't sick because it benefits the majority.

Calls to #CancelEverythingNow are a great example of utilitarianism at its best. When the risk of public harm is high & personal pleasure (convenience, too young/healthy to be affected, etc) is the main loss, make decisions with the majority in mind.