Philosophy: A Resoning Deceit

Amelia Ray is a young, teenage woman how has lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous for all of her life. Having a mother who is district attorney and a father with the most lucrative towing business in his region has allowed Amelia to have a silver spoon in her mouth since she was born. Her family has always given her the best of the best with no questions asked. She has grown up in the best of neighborhoods, taught in the nest of schools, and now at age seventeen, will attend the prestige college Duke University.
Amelia has always lived in uncomfortable surroundings because she was always the only minority of her surroundings. Her being of African and Hispanic descent never worked in her favor. In her town, the majority of the population was white. Her high school was very distinguished, but only on the outside. On the inside, it was filled with drug use, orgies, and much of jealousy, deceit, and envy in the cesspool of both the girls and boys. She was looked at as the outcast and often chastised by other women because of her exotic beauty. Her always being the only one of another race while surrounded by Caucasians often lead her to be by her lonesome with no friends and no one to relate to. She couldn’t talk to her parents because they were entirely too busy. The only person that she ever talked to was her best friend, Stacy.
Stacy was of Hispanic descent but no one knew. Being Amelia’s best friend, she understood the problems and racism that she would have to go through being a minority and having even your own parents not understands you. Stacy went to school on the other side of town which meant her and Amelia only seen each other on the weekends. She often hid it to not be tormented of this. She was not rich but was well of by her parents growing restaurant business. She would often ask her parents not to attend school functions, scared that once people found out she was Puerto Rican, she wouldn’t be able to accept in her all white society. All Stacy wanted was acceptance and she would do anything to do it.
Before both were off to college, many of the young boys at Amelia’s high school decided to throw an end of the year party. Amelia was invited but decided against because she didn’t want to be in the surroundings of drugs and sex. She and Stacy sit in Amelia’s bed contemplating what they should do on a Saturday night. “We should go to the party, Amelia. “It would be fun. We would be safe as long me and you are there together. Nothing can happen to us” says Stacy. Amelia looked at Stacy contemplating saying that “Stacy, I don’t like those guys, they aren’t what I call friends. They don’t like me and I don’t like them”. Stacy finally convinces Amelia on going to the party on the grounds of they will only stay for a couple of minutes and leave.
When they finally get to the party, they are amazes at their surroundings: sex and drugs are not the only things going on. Women are drunk, men are becoming irate and both are becoming too much for Amelia. Stacy is very comfortable conforming to this new style and it is making Amelia uncomfortable.
When Amelia stands up to leave, she is forced to sit down by a male that is sitting right next to her. She tries again and his pushed down. Three men out of nowhere begin to grab her and take her to the bedroom where they begin to videotape her “crossover”. A “crossover” is where the high school football team top players have sex with a girl crossing them over to woman hood as they put it. As they begin, they rip off her clothing and continue to begin getting ready for the ceremony. Stacy is standing in the doorway with the camera. One of the men came up to Stacy a couple of weeks asking her that they wanted Amelia as the going away cross over because she was the main girl that all the men were trying to get but unsuccessfully so.
Amelia was laid on the bed crying as she sees her best friend videotaping what is about to begin as one of the worst day of her life. What Stacy didn’t know is that Amelia always kept both a blade and pepper spray on her at all times because of a confrontation she had with one of her fellow female student. When the boys weren’t looking, Amelia maced both boys and continued for the door where she maced Stacy as well and continued to run to her car and drive home.
The next day, Amelia looked on the news and seen a scene of the party that she attended. Her heart began to beat fast as she feared that her secret of her near rape experience was going to be aired. On the news, the woman announced that a woman was brutally raped and murdered in an attempt of a new event a young boy called “crossover.” They were still unable to find out who is the cause of this. The questions began to pop in her head. “Should I tell the police of my experience? Will I ruin image of the sweet little girl? Will this affect my parents and their popularity of the state? Should I tell on my best friend who betrayed me to help this rape victim?”
According to Ethical Relativism, specifically personal or individual ethical relativism, the best way to describe her stand point if she were to take this position is that “What I find illegal or immoral isn’t what the next person may find immoral or unethical”. She may want to mind her own business and not get into other peoples lifestyles because what fits her may not fit the other. Everyone in this world is different and we as people are not allowed to make their lifestyle a charade simply because it isn’t the same as ours.
Also according to Utilitarianism, which looks at the consequences of what will take place and how it will be handled. In Amelia’s situation, her telling what she seen can be able to shed light on this new phenomenon of the “crossover” in her community and saving many women from being exposed to that in years to come. However, her also saying something cannot only ruin the reputation of her as well as her parents, but can also back fire and she will be shunned by the people who didn’t accept her before. It is what you can call a catch-22.
In my personal opinion, I would take the utilitarian approach and give the police all of the information I will accept the consequences of me being able to save at least another girls life from going through a tragedy that Amelia has amazingly able to avoid. Her telling her story will give others a very wide open spectrum of what is going on in their community and how they can avoid what can happen to Amelia but what the woman who was raped and murdered was unable to do.