Overcoming Moral licensing, a Long Way to Go

 

 The lady vanished. This unfortunate woman, Elizabeth Thompson, was a talented artist who once received the honor of exhibiting her painting, Roll Call, on the line in Gallery Two. But after her success, she was banished from the royal academy and the art world. People used moral licensing: they used her as a token to deflect accusations and conceal sexism. Julia Gillard was another token. The "first" one enters through the door, and the door closes perpetually. Two questions rose to my mind: (1) is moral licensing applicable to every situation? (2) if moral licensing is that powerful, should we support policies that are intended to support social minorities?

 Moral licensing is indeed powerful, but sometimes people overcome it. According to moral licensing, after one outsider steps over the boundary, no good news come from the others among outsiders. However, the first outsider can swing the door open for others to come in, too. I think feminism is a good example of overcoming moral licensing. Glass ceiling, prejudice between men and women, hampered women from deserving equal rights as men. However, some women who had unprecedental courage endeavored to crack the glass ceiling. For example, during Joseon Dynasty, Shin Saimdang was extraordinarily wise and talented at art. Regardless of prejudice that women aren't educated and shouldn't educate others, she devoted her life to her son's education. Later, Heo Nanseolheon wrote great poetrys, which seemed to be the job of men. As more and more people open the closed door, the door can no longer be shut. I also recall Jeon Tae-il, who sacrificed himself to inform the right of workers to the public. His death melted the cold, apethetic minds of scholars, and gave hope to workers who were treated inhumanely under poor working conditions. Eventually, the whole group of workers stood up against companies and fought for their rights. If the pioneer who opened the door has a conspicuous impact on others, it may not just end as moral licensing.

 If moral licensing is yet too powerful, policies that serve the purpose of protecting social minorities may be dangerous. They can be just a "token" to fool minorities that they embrace them, although after accepting one person they will conclude that one exemption would prove their morality. For example, some countries have policies that mandate women quota system among politicians: certain percentage should be comprised of women. If we evaluate this policy based on moral licensing, people who sort women would believe that they had already shown their moral behavior by the selection of women, and this covers up for rest of the immoral, discriminative behavior. Sadly, the few percentage of women who were inside the group of men are facing many difficulties. Most of them aren't Shin Saimdang or Heo Nanseolheon, they don't leave much impact or hope on other women.

 To conclude, I agree to the concept of moral licensing, but in some cases the "first" outsider can overcome it and open the door forever. But today, outsiders with that much courage and ability to cause a change are missing. If they only rely on policies that help minorities, they can never break down the real barrier that hinders them from attaining equal rights. Equality is guaranteed only under individual's courage and effort that tear down the door.