"John D. Giorgis" wrote:
>
> At 03:40 PM 3/5/01 -0600, Marvin wrote:
> >
> >I think he's saying that self-righteousness is a contra-indicator of
> >genuine righteousness. :-)
exactly
>
> Which would leave us virtually without righteousness in the world. After
> all, how many people are there out there who are completely unwilling to
> say that they are doing "the right thing" in comparison to at least
> somebody else.
Saying /= doing. Pounding your chest, waving your hat and yelling "Follow
me!" does not make you a leader. Neither does proclaiming yourself morally
superior make you so. Especially keeping in mind, as others have pointed out,
that morality is largely relative.
It's funny. A few years ago, _after_ reading Moby Dick, I picked up the Cliff
Notes for it because though I knew Melville had a deep message, I didn't
really get it. But I never looked at the notes. So somehow, during this
discussion it ended up on my desk and I've been reading some of it. The
character Queequeg is described as a pagan that has left his island to learn
more about Christianity. The notes say:
"He thought that he would learn enough to return to his people and help them
with the more advanced ideas embodied in this civilized religion, but rather
than benefiting from Christianity, Queequeg is corrupted by it. His pure and
ideal paganism is tainted by the hypocrisy and deceit found in Christianity
and in civilization. Consequently, Melville is attempting to suggest that a
persons values do not depend on the type of religion he professes."
And I might add that a persons values aren't necessarily dependent on his/her
politics.
>
> Question:
> "Are you more moral than Adolf Hitler?"
>
> If you get more than a hanful of "no" responses, I will be shocked.
>
I don't really understand how this relates to the discussion. I thought we
were discussing moral superiority, not the moral bottom rung.
Doug
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
