Canadian politician analyzes ethics in LA


Michael Ignatieff, former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, discussed his work with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and his attempts at understanding ethics on a global scale Tuesday night.

The event, put on through Ignatieff’s partnership with USC’s Leventhan Institute for Humanities and Ethics, examined the politician’s recent visit to the Los Angeles area and took place in the University Club.

His mission is part of a project to describe ethical systems in various cities through a series of site-based studies. USC worked closely with Ignatieff during this visit to provide him with contacts.

Ignatieff’s visit to Los Angeles included visits to various faith-based communities, reformed gang members, and student newspapers.

The talk focused on how Los Angeles’ citizens create what he coined as an “ethical operating system,” or a system of codes that aim to promote general good in the city.

“I think every city needs an operating system, shared moral [assumptions] that let people live together on a daily basis, for shared interests will only get you so far, but shared ethics will let people stick together no matter what,” Ignatieff said.

Ignatieff also stressed that Los Angeles is an important model for moral actions across the country.

“L.A. is the source of an enormous number of our moral assumptions; it’s the global capital of the entertainment industry,” Ignatieff said. “From Blade Runner to Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction, the media instills us with images of dystopian and utopian cities.”

Ignatieff, however, also views Los Angeles as more than just a source of global assumptions. He sees a complex system of communities that allow for ethical conflict and rebuilding.

“In L.A., ethical life feels like joining traffic in the freeway, you count on everyone to do the right thing, and they count on you to do the right thing,” Ignatieff said. “Ethics provides community, so the key word in any moral operating system in a city is community. There’s no shortage of communities in L.A., the city is just a ‘confusion of communities,’ if that’s the word for a group of communities.”

These communities’ historic conflicts, such as the Watts Riots and Rodney King Riots, were used to investigate how cities build these “operating systems.”

Ignatieff sees these violent conflicts as expressions of issues between the many designers of the city’s “operating system,” showing the variety of people who write these ethical assumptions.

Despite these conflicts, Ignatieff is optimistic. His lecture expressed hope for increased diversity and non-violent restructuring of these “ethical operating systems.”

He also believes that these operating systems come from the common man, not from institutions, and represent individuality rather than homogeneity.

“Working together to rebuild a moral operating system cannot be achieved by abandoning authentic moral differences,” Ignatieff said. “What faith-based groups taught me is that common ground can be found so long as no one is asked to trade away what is distinct, authentic and real about their faith identity. Unlike the operating systems in machines that have to operate identically all the time, moral operating systems learn, adapt and change.”

Student reception to the lecture seemed positive. Yuna Kim, a junior majoring in international relations and biology, agreed with many of the points but felt that the optimism was misplaced.

“I thought it was very insightful,” Kim said. “But it was an optimistic view which I am skeptical of. I think he needs more time to develop proof.”

Jinny Cai, a junior majoring in health and humanity, found the discussion relevant to her studies.

“I think it’s very relevant to what I’m studying, actually,” Cai said. “I plan on going into the medical field and my ambition is to go into Doctors Without Borders, so it’s super interesting to me to know about all of these community issues, and the exchange between people. Many of the facts that he had about L.A. surprised me.”

Austin Carter, a junior majoring in economics (mathematics) and global health, focused on the L.A. element of the lecture.

“I think that in Global Health we deal with developing settings often, and a lot of the conversation was about Los Angeles, which I do think serves as a proxy for when you’re going into a developing place,” Carter said. “I thought that the speaker did a good job of highlighting the fact that L.A. is a place with a lot of great minds working on solutions.”