First Contact
The topic of ethics has been around since the understanding that science needs to be a testable discipline. In order for a theory to be counted as relevant in science it must be falsifiable, meaning it must be able to be proved wrong. This is where ethics come in. A scientist must insure the physical, psychological, and emotional well being of the subject is not compromised. These ideas have not always been considered. Modern day laws and policies detour unethical experiments to humans and animals. This determent not only is apparent in the sciences but also in the world of lay person. In the movie, First Contact, we see the lack of ethics in the prospectors' journey for gold. The prospectors are hardly to blame for their actions. They are results of the era they grew up in, the lack of knowledge about the Aboriginal people, and most importantly, these men were not scientists looking for a discovery. They happened upon the native people and used what instinct and little knowledge they had at the time. The movie takes us back to a time when liberties of freedom were only taken in by those who had the money to buy them. Poor people had no say, especially foreign poor people. In the 1930's there
The Aboriginals for there savage unpredictable ways and the white men for there strange and frightening inventions. Those extreme cases discussed at the Nuremburg Trials would lay the ground work for future laws in all aspects of life. Today and in past years the hierarchy of power has been an ever present feature. They have seriously altered the history of those native people. First and foremost we need to remember that these men were prospectors. The men's lack of knowledge and ethnocentrism has affected the views of the native people and has considerably disemboweled any chance for a clear study of these people as first discovered. These men were bushmen who were no stranger to killing and fighting to get what they wanted. The public killing of the pig displayed the white man's over all power at that time, because the natives had never seen anything like it before. During this time shock therapy was a popular treatment for mental disorders, and psychological testing was being done that would never be allowed now days. In regards to whether or not the actions taken were ethical, in the terms we know today, they were most certainly not. If only these men would have realized the discovery they had made; a discovery that will never be done on this planet again. The natives did not want power over the prospectors. The prospectors were just acting out of mere ignorance. The actions taken by those first white people to encounter the natives started a negative stereotype. The prospectors came with the knowledge that there needs to be a hierarchy.
Common topics in this essay:
Nuremburg Trials,
,
War II,
native people,
lack knowledge,
rightfully theirs,
unethical experiments,
poor people,
white man's,
white people,
|
Acceptance Essays
