Team Debate: Looking good is a moral duty

Thank you to Team Y for doing this debate with us; thank you to Airmax1227, and bladerunner060 for arranging it. This is the first completed team debate on this site, and we are excited to be part of it. Rebuttal1) CON claims that self-respect is "some-what objective." What could be more subjective than self-respect - a feeling, an idea that we have about ourselves?As this is CON's only objection to self-respect being a moral duty, we reaffirm the winning argument of self-respect.2) CON does not contest that looking good makes other people behave well. However, he argues that this improvement stems from "bigotry". First of all, CON's use of "bigotry" is a misnomer - it is nothing more than the manifestation of subjectivity. Second, as CON has agreed, we choose our appearance. Therefore, when we react to someone's appearance, we are reacting to their choices and actions. If a stranger speaks to us kindly, we respond more positively than if they speak rudely. This isn't bigotry, nor is responding positively to someone's considerate appearance.CON says that if he chose to turn up to a wedding dressed in his favorite sloppy T-shirt with a rude slogan, that this is "self-expression" and it would be wrong for people to judge him badly or in any way change their behavior in response to his appearance. Why should people ignore each others' appearance? CON doesn't say. Further, he is silent on the issue of how dressing considerately feeds the "bigoted standards of the society." He just says that it does. But this is absurd. Eating a simple, healthy meal does not feed the obesity epidemic, and looking good does not feed bigotry in society.In any case, CON's point, that we should try to treat people well no matter what they look like doesn't translate into not trying to look good in our turn. For example, consider the Christian rule about turning the other cheek. It's a rule of non-violence: someone slaps you, you don't retaliate. This rule does not in any way imply that it's OK to go about slapping people and then to say, "Oh but they shouldn't mind it."3) "morality is only something in relation to the behavior of others. Poverty isn't a behavior..."This is just wrong. Poverty is a result of human behavior just as much as religion and governance, all of which are subject to moral judgment.4) "A duty is also something that all people should be able to fulfill"A duty does not mean "equal opportunity". This is a silly stipulation.For example, people with severe physical and mental illnesses have severely limited capacities for any action, let alone moral action. In no way does this curtail the moral duties of more able people.5) "What is morally good does not make it a moral duty in necessity."As stated in round #3 (Nature of Duty), a duty is simply an obligation. If CON's point seems to be obtuse, just observe the following: Golden ruleWe owe it to ourselves to help others. Self-respect We owe it to ourselves to help ourselves. These naturally flow from our uncontested framework. CON is just obfuscating the matter. CON provides no sources, no examples, nothing, to corroborate CON's ever-changing and inconsistent stance on "duty". CON agrees with our conceptions on morality. We do owe it to ourselves to look good, and so looking good is a moral duty.ClosingAccording to the moral framework that CON has accepted, people have a moral duty to respect and care for others (the golden rule); and themselves (self-respect with humility, self-discipline and acceptance of personal responsibility).Further, we have provided uncontested, accredited, scientific evidence, that:- looking good improves our own behavior- that people, and their appearance, are part of the environment that strongly affects others- that one deviantly-dressed person can foster incivility and disorder- that looking good increases the helpfulness, generosity and prosocial communication of people around us- that teachers' and doctors' appearance is instrumental in helping students and patients respectively; teachers and doctors have a duty to "look good".CON has complained that these examples are too specific, but they represent a general principle: our appearance combines with our behavior and words in any interaction, and it has an impact on other people. We can control our appearance, and by doing so we are making a conscious decision about how we want to affect people. For CON to bring in sourced evidence to rebut at this stage would be irresponsible, as they had 2 rounds prior to do so and did not. PRO asks that due credit be given for sources.We agree with CON that we cannot be held morally responsible for other people's decisions. However, as part of the Golden Rule, we have a moral obligation to help ourselves and others as best we can. By looking good, we help others; by helping others, we help ourselves. By helping ourselves, we fulfil a moral duty. Thus we have a moral duty to make life better for others. Looking good is a moral duty. Thank you.