A Flood of Ethics

So this semester I've become more involved in my Philosophy department at USU. I'm on an Ethics Bowl team, which is basically debate team but with more politically charged, controversial ethics cases. And with this government shutdown and the continuous bombardment of assumed political opinions, I find myself almost drowning in the unsettled beliefs that fill this world. I marvel that every single person can be so solidly anchored in their opinion, so flippin' positive that this must be the way the world is. It's amazing to look at the differences in perspective. My own belief, which may not be the word of God, mind you, is that everyone's personal ethics is based on how they see humanity in relation to the bigger picture and to themselves. Those who think that people are generally untrustworthy have an opinion that resides a whole planet away from those who believe people are all good deep down. I find that I'm less interested in the surface opinion, like which party sucks more or what makes me special in comparison to others, and more interested in what that person, unbeknownst to them in most cases, actually believes about human nature. No matter the bounds that their religion, upbringing, or education seem to set, everyone seems to hold opinions independent and unrelated to those parameters. We are so confident in our empirical knowledge that we make assumptions about humanity that we believe so deeply that it creates our ultimate perspectives. The differences between people aren't just their viewpoints of political realities, but their judgements on human nature.