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| George Reeves as Superman. |
Later in Chapter 9, Campbell suggests that the best reason to expect him to be a spy is that he is “a ham.” As a ham, he would enjoy the “grand acting” opportunity--a chance to “fool everyone with [his] brilliant interpretation” of a Nazi (39). This confession suggests that Campbell’s motives for serving his country were impure. He was less interested in performing his patriotic duty than he was in the ego trip it would afford him.
But from a moral perspective, how much should motive matter to us? If a hero runs into a burning house to save a child, do the child’s parents care if she did it because she wanted to become a celebrity? Would we admire Campbell more if he told us his motives were selfless? Or would we doubt his sincerity? Or his self-awareness?
Ever seen the film
Hero (1992) directed by Stephen Frears?
Motive SHOULD matter, but more often than not, motive isn't what we look at. The example of the burning house proves my point perfectly. The hero definently should have cared about the child's life more than if she made the front page of the local newspaper. But in reality, regardless of the hero's motives, people wouldn't care about the motive. People care because the child was saved. No one would be upset that the child lived just because the hero wanted attention.
ReplyDeleteIn Mother Night, Campbell may have just been a spy for the thrill of fooling everyone or maybe he really was patriotic. Pure motive is hard to find in the world we live in today. And in the few cases where motive is pure, the world doesn't believe it. The mentality that we usually have, when others talk of their personal selflessness, is judgemental. Because we feel as if they are putting us down, almost as if they are better than us. (This isn't necessarily always the mentality, but in most of my experiences it is.) Regardless of Campbell's motive, people can agree on the fact that he was a spy. The "deed or action" is a for sure thing because we see it with our own eyes. The motive will always be one of those things that we wonder about. So then the question becomes: do we choose to believe, doubt, or even care about the motive? (I have not seen Hero, but after watching this clip, I think that it is a movie I would enjoy!)
I agree with Kendall Dobbs that motive SHOULD matter to the individual, but say the “hero” was only looking for acclaim when she saw the child in the burning building, and she thought to herself, “My motives aren’t good”, so she doesn’t save the child. The parents regardless of the motive of the hero want their child saved. So does motive really matter if the job gets done? Does the end justify the motive? In Mother Night, Campbell does have impure motives, but he does his job. His motives might not be patriotic, but the United States received his encoded messages. His motives didn’t harm the job he was doing.
ReplyDeleteBut from a moral standpoint of an individual, I think everyone should look at their motives for doing things. At the end of the day would Campbell say that being a spy for the United States was worth all that he lost? If he had the right motives, I believe his answer would have been yes.
You are your motives.
I'm going to deviate a little bit and say that movtive has almost no importance. Today's world contains a lot of cyniciam and apathy. So someone could explain their motive, but we either wouldn't believe it (I know I wouldn't believe Campbell if he told me he had good intentions)or we wouldn't care.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, what happened, happened. That's it. Whether you had good intentions or bad, the chain of events is the same.
So why should I consider it?
Motive, for me, has become somthing that people can twist for the good or the bad, depending on how the situation played out, to either glorify themselves or get themselves out of trouble.
I would like to add to Brittany's comment that some people don't even understand their own motives for doing something. They do things (good and bad) without thinking a lot of the time. Talking about motive is something that happens after the fact--and someone's motives for doing something could be mixed. And layered.
ReplyDeleteI feel that motive should matter. However, I do realize that there are some circumstances where the action outweighs the intention, but I still personally think they should match. In the given example, yes the "hero" did something great, but if it was my child and I was informed that she did it for herself rather than helping someone in need I would appreciate the action but think much less of the person's character. Character is one of the few parts of ourselves that we can control and our actions are driven by our character. I think that this is a way of seeing who a person is and how they represent themselves. Because of this I think that the motive of an action is important.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the motive behind someone’s actions should not matter to anyone but the person doing the action. When someone helps someone else, nobody really cares why they did it, especially if the help was much needed. Here is an example: whenever a wealthy person donates thousands of dollars to a charity of any sort, the receivers of the charity do not care why they are receiving the money, they are simply thankful for everything they have. Nobody truly knows why the wealthy person gave the money, and they will never know unless they ask; even then they could be dishonest. The truth is that the person was probably giving money for tax breaks, or even to make themselves look more popular in the public eye. This act of charity always works for becoming more likable in the bigger picture. I do not know about anyone else, but if I see someone give a lot of money to a charity that I respect, I do not care one bit why the money was given. The giver always looks a little better in my mind after that. For some the moral behind an action may matter, but it seems a little prudent to not accept a donation because you may think that the giver wants tax cuts and a better reputation. Just accept the gift and let the person with right or wrong motives deal with their own problems. If they can deal with the consequences, let it be.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the only person motives should matter to is yourself. There is no possible way of knowing for sure what anyone's motives for doing anything are. Therefore, for someone to judge someone else's motives is futile. Even if we do happen to know the impure motives behind a good deed, the good deed isn't undone by sinister motives. There are two parts to an action: the what and the why. The what is for the public to care about and the why is for ourselves to worry about. Since we are the best judges of our own motives, we should be the one to judge them. The mother who's kid the hero saves should not care why the hero saved him. The hero can deal with his motives later. The only reason knowing someone's motives could be beneficial is in predicting their future moves, or gettinbg to know them better, which neither involves actually judging the motives, just understanding them. The only motives we should judge are our own. And if you are not judging your motives, then the person who will suffer most will be yourself.
ReplyDeleteMotives are important, but that doesn't necessarily make them the center of our actions. It is desirable that the hero has the best at heart, but if that is not the case, good can still come from it. If the person has good motives, they are likely to be respected more and have a better appreciation of how important their actions are. However, human beings do have a tendency to be selfish and look at what they can achieve through their heroic deeds. While Campbell doesn't have patriotic motives at the forefront of his actions, he didn't exactly volunteer for the job either. Rather, it was dropped in his lap and he eventually chose to accept it.
ReplyDeleteThis is Cerina Stiles.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it really matters why he did what he did so much as the fact that he did it. Think about it if your child was saved from a burning building would you care why? No you wouldn’t you would just be happy that your child was okay. I don’t think my opinion of Campbell would change if his motives had been selfless. Either way he was a very brave man to do what he did. He basically betrayed everyone he knew.
Like people have already said, motive should matter, but most of the time it doesn't because it isn't even questioned.
ReplyDeleteWe tend to praise people for their good deeds. Do we usually ask them why they perform the good deeds? No. We automatically assume that because someone did something nice, that their motives were correct. We don't assume the worst, like people doing good deeds for attention or praise.
I wouldn't admire Campbell if he said his motives were selfless. I admire the fact that he was honest and self-aware of the fact that he did it for the attention. I'd rather someone tell the truth than them trying to make themselves sound better than they are. Campbell is a very self-aware individual. Most people don't even consider their motives behind decisions they make.
Motive isn't the important thing most of the time. We don't even care about someone's motive for doing something unless we really take the time to ask "why did they do it?" Mainly people just look at the end result and completely forget about the means to the end. I believe motive is important. However, it is often overlooked whenever someone does something heroic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most people that said motive does matter.I think that the intentions matter more than the act because if you're not being truthful or deceiving other people by using kindness, is that being real to yourself? For instance if whether you're asked to kill a terminally ill person or a very healthy criminal, your action would and is still considered as murder.
ReplyDeleteI think if Campbell had to say his actions were unselfish or if he explained why he did those radio transmission, i think it would make him less of a criminal.But don't get me wrong, crime is a crime but i think that if he explained the reason why he did it,and if he had a good reason, it would make his crime's less punishable.
It is our actions that matter. People can say that motive should matter all they want, but it doesn’t. Look at it from a darker perspective. A person can have a motive they consider perfectly acceptable for outright murdering someone, or they could say they killed the person because he or she annoyed them. The motive doesn’t matter either way. Both ways that you look at it, that individual committed murder. Do we care why he did it? I don’t think so. We look at him for what he is, a murderer. If Cambell had told us that his actions were completely selfless I don’t think anyone would have believed him. I personally would have taken him for an even bigger actor. I would have thought he only said those things to become more popular, to seem like a bigger hero. However, he was honest with us. Despite whatever his motive was, he still performed the job the same way and accomplished the same things he would have accomplished if he actually was selfless.
ReplyDeletePersonally I am still the child whose head is full of stories about chivalry, honor, pride and although motive matters to me, I agree with Brittany. Motive does not matter in the grand scheme of things. Our society is all about results, no one is under the illusion that medicine is mass produced by companies because they want to make the world a better place. It is because they want to make money. The only thing that really matters to the parents is that fact that their child is still alive. Likewise the only thing that really matters is Campbell did his job and saved lives. Yes, I would like him more as a person if his motives were selfless and for the great American ideals, because his character would be that of an individual I would want to know. However, Campbell is not asking for my friendship so it is irrelevant. Dale
ReplyDeleteMorally, motive is an interesting question. Does it matter if you kill out of self-defense or out of anger? Our society would consider one action murder and would not question the other. On a smaller level, if someone stops a robbery because they want a reward, or even to take that money themselves, then normally they are viewed as "bad people".
ReplyDeleteSo, motive is important, while the action is normally held in a higher regard. In the case of an abused animal no one cares if the man was too poor to take care of it. The man is charged with a crime. The man does not necessarily desire to injure his animal. He just cannot afford to properly care for it.
Think of the last time you were incidentally hurt by something that someone said. Their motive does not necissarily make you feel better, but may help you to get over feelings of pain and anger over the offense.
This is a question that must be answered on two levels, social and personal. On the social level motive affects the judicial system. If motives were not used to determine guilt then sentences would be unilaterally based on the action percieved. If someone died then another person would be charged in the death. If someone was injured in an accident then there would be no lawsuit for that injury, the injuree would just be made to pay the injured.