In an unethical, democratically-governed world, the very best an ethical person can hope to achieve or establish is fear in the eyes of his peers.
- One cannot hope to educate them: as they have no need to be educated.
- One cannot hope to beat them: as they can make rules and legally use violence against him.
- One cannot hope to get along with them: as an ethical, logical person is the undoing of an unethical, emotion based culture.
The only ethical act, is to stand separate from them, and command enough respect or concern that those considering doing harm: decide steering clear, is a better strategy.
An ethical person would of course prefer earned respect, intelligent debate and gathered consensus in society.
An ethiical person looks at the world from a viewpoint outside oneself.
An ethical person realizes that objectively speaking, there are things much greater than “self” in this life.
This is not to say that an ethical man does not use self interest in decision making. Contrarily, self benefit is key in making decisions that preserve life and provide successful strategies. Those decisions simply need to be made from a objective and universal perspective.