The Golden Rule Chuck Klosterman Summary

“By assuming other people should be treated the way I want to be treated, it imposes my preferences and values on those around me”(Does The Golden). Essayist and writer for the New York Times Magazine, Chuck Klosterman, explains in his article Does The Golden Rule Hold Up in Modern Society why the “Golden Rule” may actually be not so golden after all. Klosterman explains why assuming that people want the same things and think that the same actions are moral is simply irrational. He states, “Well, I certainly want to be treated in a manner that accounts for the possibility that other people can’t predict what I want”(Does The Golden). I interpret this to mean that he wants to be treated as a unique person who has his own morals and values.

He also says things to her such as, “I have heard that you are a kind, compassionate monarch”(Lin Zexu). Lin is trying to use guilt to motivate Queen Victoria into making the decision to stop sending Opium into China by using adjectives to describe her and make her come off as a benevolent leader. He is suggesting that if she does not stop the opium trade to China, she will not be a “compassionate monarch”. When a superior or even equal counterpart puts expectations on one to act a certain way, one may feel more inclined to act that way. Guilt can be used as a tool. Lin is trying to use it to motive the Queen to act in a certain way. Lin has put the expectation on Queen Victoria to do the “ethical” thing – but how is it that Lin’s expectations and desires are ethical? And whose ethics are they? Who gets to decide what is ethical? We see this very argument being played out today in the national debate about restrictions on opioid prescriptions. The addiction community and its advocates see the restrictions on prescriptions as a good. The community of pain sufferers and their advocates see the restrictions as bad. The debate, near two hundred years later is still very much active and an