INTRO
It seems as though loyalty is a relic of a bygone age. Every day’s headlines shock and surprise. One frequently hears of frauds, chicanery, and double-dealing by corporate executives, new lies, thefts, cruelties and even murders perpetrated by government leaders. Pre-nuptials epitomise the lack of loyalty between couples. One cannot help but wonder what flaws of culture, religion, upbringing, or historical circumstance explain the abandonment of the most excellent of virtues. Idealists assert that the human creature is a social animal, and as such, for the man in the street, loyalty continues to be relevant. Nevertheless, it is clear that the pitfalls of loyalty in a dynamic world are very real, and as such loyalty, once a priceless commodity, is now a pearl that has lost its lustre.
ANTI-THESIS
POINT
Detractors may aver that loyalty is valuable in an ever-changing world as it wins the allegiance of many.
ELABORATION
One who is loyal possesses firm and unchanging principles, which makes one predictable and understandable. Loyalty makes one the reliable constant amongst a sea of variables, an anchor for others. Allies can depend on each other, strengthening each other, and consequently, their enemies are presented with a united and thus more formidable front.
EXAMPLE
The past two decades of US history tells a cautionary tale. US foreign policy has been nothing short of erratic, filled with backstabbing and broken promises. President Bush spurned NATO allies in his War on Terror; Obama broke his word when he failed to bring down the curtain on Guantanamo Bay, and President Trump’s treatment of every major ally has been egregious in the least, running the gamut from social gaffes to tearing up trade pacts.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
This counterexample illustrates that US disloyalty to its allies has led to US allies losing faith in her. Conversely, China, the antithesis of America, has done the opposite. She has furnished her allies with economic stimulus, and has in return earned significant diplomatic favours, such as the reticence of Cambodia and Laos over the South China Sea issue.
LINK
In short, loyalty begets itself, and in a world that continually presents new challenges, loyalty is an appreciative asset.
THESIS 1
POINT
Loyalty can sometimes be a vice rather than a virtue.
ELABORATION
A singular devotion to a cause can bring about more harm than good, causing a person to commit immoral or illegal actions in the name of the cause. In pursuing one virtue, that person may well pervert ethics and virtue, ruining himself.
EXAMPLE
Disgraced Pastor Kong Hee of City Harvest Church was convicted of criminal breach of trust for misappropriating church funds to finance his wife’s evangelistic music projects.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
In a time where Christianity was losing believers, Kong Hee acted to strengthen the church’s numbers. However, his actions instead betrayed the trust of his acolytes and the wider religious community. Kong Hee displayed the ethical defect of postulating ecclesiastical duties over and above material duties to community.
LINK
Hence, loyalty may lead to significant lapses in judgement and thus not be valuable.
THESIS 2
POINT
Loyalty to others may be considered a disloyalty and thus not valued.
ELABORATION
Loyalty to an actor is always welcomed by said actor, yet it is not so clear-cut when it comes to attitudes towards loyalty to others. Hence, in a rapidly evolving world, people must be shrewd about balancing their loyalties. In general, loyalty to community supersedes the loyalty to employer, with loyalty to family supreme to these. Yet a peculiar paradox presents itself, as professionalism and staunch commitment to sanctity of contract is also highly cherished.
EXAMPLE
Edward Snowden had to seek political asylum in Russia after he blew the whistle on his former employer, the National Security Agency, which conducted an illegal and pervasive surveillance program.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
Snowden pleaded that his actions were in the public interest, and many hailed him as a hero for exposing the treachery of the establishment. Yet there some political pundits decried his lack of professionalism and disrespect for sanctity of contract, labelling him a traitor who bit the hand that fed him.
LINK
Loyalty is highly complex and holds different moral values for different observers, an ethical representation of “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”.
THESIS 3
POINT
Short-term commitment, rather than loyalty with and an indefinite timeline, is valued in today’s corporate world.
ELABORATION
There may be loyalty programs or brand loyalty, but in its purest sense, loyalty is the willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion of a person to a cause. Loyalty exists merely as a buzzword in business vocabulary, a marketing term denoting a customer’s commitment to a business. At its simplest, a customer relationship with business is a value exchange, externally enforced by contract law. So long as the contract is fulfilled within the bounds of legality, customer and business are mutually committed.
EXAMPLE
2017 saw the end of net neutrality as the world knew it, axed in a controversial 3-2 decision by the Federal Communications Committee. The decision was seen as a watershed moment as the FCC will now significantly scale back broadband regulatory requirements, allowing Internet Service Providers to, as they claim, construct fast lanes for special kinds of data and expand consumer access to the information superhighway. However, this promise is an empty one as IPs will instead use their new-found regulatory freedom to speed bump existing networks and charge more to use the ‘fast lane’.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
Business practice demands that customers be valued for their profitability and revenue possibilities, not for their emotional commitments to you or vice versa. No contract was signed that demands ISPs uphold their pledge to invest more in internet infrastructure and therefore, no loyalty to customer.
LINK
In an ever-changing world, the relationship between customers and a business demands that two-way street, and it is business contract, not loyalty, that enforces that relationship, hence loyalty has no worth.
CONCLUSION
Loyalty is a romantic ideal that exists only when emotional ties are important, such as in diplomatic negotiations between states, or between fellow men. Even then, loyalties differ in strength and is subject to interpretation. To some people, certain loyalties are supreme that override all other considerations ideals, furthermore these loyalties differ from person to person. Finally, in the corporate world, loyalty is dead, killed by the impersonal and cutthroat nature of business.
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