US Army Recruiting and the changing morals

I have had a lot of discussions with people who uphold the primacy of morals.  I really think Morals are subjective listings of things that a bunch of people believe in “a” space and “a” time.  They change in time and in space.  What to Mr. X is Moral, to Mr. Y is blasphemous and vice versa.  Similarly, what to a South African was moral in 1950 became immoral in 2000!  Another dimension that affects morals is context.  Stealing or telling lies may be immoral, but upheld in an attempt to save life of an innocent.  As we consultants are fond of saying.. it all “Depends”!

This ad is a good reflection of the changing nature of morals. Today the US Government would have been sued over this ad for sexual discrimination.  But in another time, it was meant to be a patriotic statement!  Today, the incentives are money (sign on bonuses) and higher education.  Here is a list of incentives for the recruits.

But it was always not so platonic.  This illustration may be offending today, but at one time it was the main ad for more recruits to World War I.