(no subject)

Brothers and sisters, I'm here to talk to you about an evil that has pervaded our society. I'm sure you can guess what it is, because it's all around us, and it's slowly creeping in, and trying to take over, even at the highest levels of government. I'm talking about that horrible, wishy washy, flip-floping disease known as moral relativism. It's a disgusting thing, as everyone knows, because something is either right, or wrong, and I don't wanna hear any kind of excuses about that.

Oh you hear people say things like how a different society might have different standards, and give people different ideas, but that's complete and total crap. No, if something is good here and now, it's good everywhere and always, and if something is evil here and now, it's evil everywhere and always.

Oh, you'll hear some of those wishy-washy Liberals tried to play some games with this, asking if slavery is okay, or if this means that many of our founding fathers, and many people in this country for the first hundred years of its existence, were evil for keeping slaves. I won't dignify that with the response, and I don't want to hear any hair splitting liberal come in and try to say that such thoughts are a challenge to the principle of moral absolutism.

No, I'm going to talk about something that's modern, and important I'm going to talk about things like the murder of human beings. There is no relativistic way to look at this. Killing people, who aren't hurting you, it's just flat out wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts, it is absolutely and completely wrong. I don't see how anybody can question that, I don't see how anybody could even pretend to have any moral dignity, and bring that into question. I don't see how anybody can say that this changes from one time to another. If someone is not trying to hurt you, directly or indirectly, you should not go around killing them. I don't care if they're an evil American imperialist bent on raping the third world, or a heretic profaning the holy land with military forces in the homeland of Islam, or an Iraqi civilian who was too near a military target. That's just bull crap; everybody knows that. Killing people is wrong. This nonsense that maybe it changes based upon circumstances, that maybe there are greater and lesser evils to consider, that things are complicated, that's all wishy-washy, flip-flopping thinking that Liberals do all the time to try to confuse the issue. Killing people is just flat out wrong.

Either that, or maybe moral absolutism isn't the be all and end all of moral reasoning.

And anyone who tried to pretend that it was, whenever it was convenient, so they could make speeches and condemn anyone who doesn’t beat the drum and wave the flag just as enthusiastically, anyone who did that, but still believed in relativism when it was useful for them, well, I just have to wonder about what kind of absolutism doesn’t condemn hypocrisy.

Of course, it doesn’t require hypocrisy. A person *can* believe one thing, and do another, if that person is too stupid, too arrogant, or too lazy to think things through. But that’s not going to impress me about their moral character, either.


(Note: This was inspired by reading a person’s essay talking about moral relativist liberals who dare to complain about the war in Iraq. The notion of moral relativism versus "understanding the nature of evil" has been thrown about incorrectly so often that I'm getting quite sick about it. Too many people are using "moral absolutism" as a code word for "doing the things I approve of, and not doing the things I don't approve of"; fine moral code, that is; do what you want, don't do what you don't want, and don't bother thinking...)

(no subject)

Brothers and sisters, I'm here to talk to you about an evil that has pervaded our society. I'm sure you can guess what it is, because it's all around us, and it's slowly creeping in, and trying to take over, even at the highest levels of government. I'm talking about that horrible, wishy washy, flip-floping disease known as moral relativism. It's a disgusting thing, as everyone knows, because something is either right, or wrong, and I don't wanna hear any kind of excuses about that.

Oh you hear people say things like how a different society might have different standards, and give people different ideas, but that's complete and total crap. No, if something is good here and now, it's good everywhere and always, and if something is evil here and now, it's evil everywhere and always.

Oh, you'll hear some of those wishy-washy Liberals tried to play some games with this, asking if slavery is okay, or if this means that many of our founding fathers, and many people in this country for the first hundred years of its existence, were evil for keeping slaves. I won't dignify that with the response, and I don't want to hear any hair splitting liberal come in and try to say that such thoughts are a challenge to the principle of moral absolutism.

No, I'm going to talk about something that's modern, and important I'm going to talk about things like the murder of human beings. There is no relativistic way to look at this. Killing people, who aren't hurting you, it's just flat out wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts, it is absolutely and completely wrong. I don't see how anybody can question that, I don't see how anybody could even pretend to have any moral dignity, and bring that into question. I don't see how anybody can say that this changes from one time to another. If someone is not trying to hurt you, directly or indirectly, you should not go around killing them. I don't care if they're an evil American imperialist bent on raping the third world, or a heretic profaning the holy land with military forces in the homeland of Islam, or an Iraqi civilian who was too near a military target. That's just bull crap; everybody knows that. Killing people is wrong. This nonsense that maybe it changes based upon circumstances, that maybe there are greater and lesser evils to consider, that things are complicated, that's all wishy-washy, flip-flopping thinking that Liberals do all the time to try to confuse the issue. Killing people is just flat out wrong.

Either that, or maybe moral absolutism isn't the be all and end all of moral reasoning.

And anyone who tried to pretend that it was, whenever it was convenient, so they could make speeches and condemn anyone who doesn’t beat the drum and wave the flag just as enthusiastically, anyone who did that, but still believed in relativism when it was useful for them, well, I just have to wonder about what kind of absolutism doesn’t condemn hypocrisy.

Of course, it doesn’t require hypocrisy. A person *can* believe one thing, and do another, if that person is too stupid, too arrogant, or too lazy to think things through. But that’s not going to impress me about their moral character, either.


(Note: This was inspired by reading a person’s essay talking about moral relativist liberals who dare to complain about the war in Iraq. The notion of moral relativism versus "understanding the nature of evil" has been thrown about incorrectly so often that I'm getting quite sick about it. Too many people are using "moral absolutism" as a code word for "doing the things I approve of, and not doing the things I don't approve of"; fine moral code, that is; do what you want, don't do what you don't want, and don't bother thinking...)