Ifyou’re a sports fan like me, then you have undoubtedly heard of the Miami scandal. If you have not, and the title of this article didn’t scare you away, then let me briefly summarize the situation.
The NCAA discovered one of Miami’s boosters, a man by the name of Nevin Shapiro, supplied extra benefits to University of Miami football and basketball players for nearly the last eight years. The NCAA maintains no athlete should receive benefits that are not also accessible to other students.
And some of the benefits sure seem to be out of reach for most college kids. Allegations include Shapiro spending millions of dollars on homes, yachts, nightclubs and prostitutes for Miami football and basketball players.
There is even one report of Shapiro providing money for an abortion to a nightclub dancer impregnated by a football player.
Just recently, Michael Rosenberg of SI.com wrote a fascinating article on this scandal. In it, Rosenberg talks about the role morality plays in the caper. He says Shapiro and the Miami players chose not to follow the rules because they didn’t consider it a matter of right or wrong.
According to an online article, he says, “They are certainly players who believe in following rules, but that doesn’t mean they believe in the rules themselves.”
Whatever the case for the Miami players, this story raises an interesting question to me: are there rules in life that we have to follow? Or does power or special status or something else allow us to live as we please?
To help us understand this question, it would behoove us to understand the nature of morality. Is there real right and wrong? Or is morality subjective, based on our personal preferences? For if it’s objective, a matter of real right and wrong, then it seems we do have rules to follow. Whereas if it is subjective, then we are free to live as we please.
Let’s explore the relative side. If there are no real rules, then might makes right, and it follows that a fifth grade bully is free to take the money of an adorable little kindergartener. He would be doing nothing wrong. The same works for what Hitler did with his power and privileges to the Jewish people.
Yet all of us react the same way to the bully and Hitler. We recognize bullying and genocide are wrong, inherently. And justice, just to name one virtue, is right.
Much more could be said about this. I have only discussed a sliver of the nature of morality, a dialogue that fills textbooks. But my point is I do think there is objective right and wrong. It seems to me we do have rules to live by, and that might does not make right.
After all, haven’t we all felt guilty about things at some point in our lives? And why would we feel guilt, if there were no real rules to break? We simply would not.
Now, whether the Miami players actually broke any moral rules in taking benefits is debatable. I mean, the illegal benefits the players have received for the last decade certainly have not given them an advantage over other teams.
Just look at the school’s record — it hasn’t won too much lately. I merely think the situation raises interesting questions about the human predicament.
Ben Hester is a sophomore majoring in political science. He can be contacted at [email protected].