Twisted (or not) Role Models

Kohlberg researched the subject of morality. Although her research may have been flawed, her findings were certainly not. Morality is without a doubt subjective. It all depends on where one is standing; which side of the fence you are on. Evil is all a matter of personal perspective, object to one's own definitions. The man who wages war is declared evil by those he oppresses; to his citizens, it is the other side that have sided with the devil.

I have a friend who has asked to not be named, who very strongly feels that it is important to keep in mind which side of the fence you are on. Some of her top role models many people would find offending, possibly downright wrong. She maintains however that it is not important what they did, but how they did it. She admires not their acts, but their intelligence. To her, she ignores the crimes they committed since they do not matter from her viewpoint.

Her first role model is Adolf Hitler, the founder of the Nazi Fascist party and the orchestrator of World War II. Billions of people worldwide would say that Hitler was evil, a monster reincarnate. But to her, that does not matter. She admires him for his military prowess, for his tenacity. She is in awe of his tactical genius and his brilliant takeover of much of Europe. Her morals are not in conflict because she does not consider these attributes to be evil. What he used them for may be, but they themselves are not. She says though, "He stops being my role model when he invades Russia. He should've been smarter than that."

Another one of her role models is Bernie Madoff. Like Hitler, quite a number of people consider him to be a bad guy. But like with Hitler, my friend does not see the wrongs that Madoff has committed. She only sees his marketing brilliance. She admires him for the scheme that he pulled off, the intelligence that it must have taken. But her admiration only goes so far. "When he gets caught, that's when I stop admiring him."

These are not role models that most people would have. Yet both of them really did have tremendous potential and capabilities. My friend recognizes those talents and admires them for what they have. Although Kohlberg would not have experimented on my friend, she would most definitely understand how my friend has different moral values than most. We each make our own morals.