Is Justice Possible for the Weak?

The weaker creatures, people, nations, always depend upon cunning, deciept, flattery, to achieve their aims. In the struggle for survival, whatever works is utilized without moral qualms. When the Acheans won the Trojan War through the treatury of the wooden horse, they were no doubt ashamed that they could not win in open combat, but happy non the less. Cunning, a deciept of the worst kind, had triumphed, and the Greeks would subsequiently employ deception as a justified tool, when in desperate straights. Consider, the battle of Salamis against the Persians, when an utterly outnumbered Athenian fleet decemated the Persians by luring them into a thin channel with a seemingly traitorious message from the Athenian general, informing the Persians where the Greeks were to be expected(this was suppose to be a kind of bribe). The Persians fell for it and were slaughtered as their fleet was unable to maneuver in the tiny straight and were surrounded.

The story of man is of cunning used to survive in a world whose forces overmatched man's. The magic of fire kept the wild beasts back.

We talk of moral action as something everyone must equally obey. But I think its crazy to consider theft immoral when the thief is compelled by hunger. Perhaps, not even hunger, but the needs of a proud nature are sufficient. As Thomas More noted, a spirited nature will pick the life of the theif before that of the beggar. It is no wonder that peoples who find it difficult to break into the regular American marketplace work in the blackmarket of prostitution, drugs and crime.

Consider Prussia under Frederick the Great, a tiny state in the middle of Europe with such behemoths as Russia, France and the Austro-Hungarian empire around it. Frederick was a man deeply consciensious who had real moral character, in the desire to make Prussia a power in europe, he had to often decieve, make then break pacts, and play the part of a wily opportunistic militarilistic state. It was by this means that he gained Prussia a reputation which other nations feared. It was only with this respect (born of proven battle-hardness) that Prussia could free itself from the demands of the great powers and achieve some independance.

Is it not so with us. A man who is physically fearsome and ready to fight is given more leverage by those around him, kept a friend for the benefits of his protection, and given respect. A man with great wealth frees himself from slavish dependence on employers, customers, and fear of small punishments (speeding tickets, etc).