> But isn't the protection of liberty a morally based ideal? > Morality isn't arbitrary.
> It is wrong to kill somebody; that is a morally based > idea. The reason > we have a law for it is because we believe it is wrong to > for one > individual to directly hinder the rights of another > individual. Morality is very subjective. Slavery is still an accepted social norm in several places. The moral judgement of countries in which slavery occurs is that slavery is okay. Yet in the US morality says it's wrong and laws are passed here to prevent it. George Bush doesn't believe gay people should have the right to be married. That is his moral judgement. The moral judgement of many of us is contrary to his, believing that gay people should have the same rights as heterosexuals. Eskimos as a result of scarce resources will kill the grandparent generation after a certain point, which is unthinkable to any of us. That's a moral judgement. We believe it's imoral - they do it out of necessity. A number of other cultures have historically held a system of morals which included ritual suicide and/or human sacrifice -- both of which are considered absolutely imoral in our culture today. The phrase "Live Free Or Die" which became so popular it's now the motto of New Hampshire, is a moral judgement which places a greater value on freedom than on life, and a lot of people have died defending precisely that moral judgement. Even in our culture, there are exceptions to the "it's wrong to kill somebody" moral - self defense, involuntary manslaughter, capital punishment, stopping genocide (sometimes - depends on the people they're killing) and overthrowing governments which are known to (not) be in posession of weapons of mass destruction all being cases in which it's okay to kill someone(s). I'd almost venture to say that in our culture, morality basically says it's okay to kill someone as long as a) they're a bad person or b) they live in a 3rd world country. There are countless examples. The only thing that even comes close to a universal human taboo is incest, for which there are numerous documented instances of culturally accepted (even expected) exceptions. s. isaac dealey 434.293.6201 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://www.fusiontap.com http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:199949 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
