If rules were made to be broken, what about laws?
Worldviews
The Dance of the Straw Men
If you're a social conservative, chances are you’ve had a conversation something like this:
Conservative: “But if we accept homosexual behavior as normal, how do we retain other traditional taboos, like the one against incest?”
Liberal: “That’s just a straw man. Nobody’s going to advocate incest.”
Now, read this, from Tauriq Moosa, tutor in ethics, bioethics and critical thinking at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (courtesy of my friend Dale Nelson):
Thirdly, and oddly, people exclaim “just” repugnant. We will examine this more closer later. Nonetheless, why should the sexual activities of two consenting adults concern us? This is the same question we can ask those who are ‘against’ homosexuality (which is like being against having blue eyes). It is none of our business what two consenting adults wish to do (as long as no one else is harmed/involved without consent). . . .
We cannot leave it up to the whims of our emotions to implement policies and laws which could, unnecessarily, cause suffering to other people, as is the case with gay people, women, and indeed the current brother-and-sister couple.
Pretty lively for a straw man, isn’t it?
Good Cop, Bad Cop: Crime Tales of Two Eras
To be sure, Ian Rankin, the leading figure in the so-called “Tartan Noir” movement, has been a powerful force in moving British detective fiction away from its cozy, genteel, village and country house gentry stereotype, but in his own day Freeman Wills Crofts did much the same thing, albeit more gently, decades earlier. Both series are well worth reading and discussing today—the two detectives share a defining quality, one that readers will find bracing in an era seen as rife with immorality and excessive concentration of power.
Prisoners of an Unnecessary Paradox — Left-Right Political Bipolarity As a “Device of Ambidextrous Politics”
The religious impulse seems to be ineradicable in humankind, which explains why so many new "faiths" are always bubbling up.
Annals of Cultural Change: Deer Season a Half-Century Ago
This week hunters across America storm the woods loaded for deer. For yet another indication of how times have changed, consider this account of deer season a half century ago.
‘Hope and Change’ Is in the Grand Tradition of . . . John Stuart Mill?
John Stuart Mill might have given ammunition to those who would overturn tradition and "fundamentally transform" society.
Woody the Lovable Nihilist
You gotta love Woody Allen. Most atheists claim, and some vehemently, that finding meaning in a God-less universe is no big deal. Not so Woody Allen. His honesty about the matter is nothing if not refreshing.
We’re All Responsible for This Economic Mess — And Other Convenient Lies We Like to Tell Ourselves
It's true: for a con game to work, it does take two — the sharper and a willing gull — but the problem is, the government con game has become so institutionalized over time that we can't easily tell where its actions and our own reactions begin or end. So when the government's various reports on "poverty," "homelessness," "food insecurity and food stamps," and insufficient "health care" (to name but a few) get hyped to the skies by the credulous media, some people don't know whom to blame.
Does Government Have the Right to Issue Licenses … for Anything?
The requirement for marriage licenses in the U.S. has been justified on the basis that the state has an overriding right, on behalf of all citizens and in the interests of the larger social welfare, to protect them from disease or improper/illegal marriages; to keep accurate state records; or even to ensure that marriage partners have had adequate time to think carefully before marrying.
Science and Humility: With Relativity Under Question, Will Materialist Philosophy Be Next?
We live in an age where the epistemological certainty of science is supposedly an unquestioned fact. To some the only way to true knowledge is through science and those things that are empirically verifiable. Anything else, like philosophy or religion is so much mumbo jumbo.
We are told by many of our cultural elites that “scientific consensus” is not to be questioned, whether this be about evolution or “climate change.” But consensus is a strange thing upon which to hang science’s definitive hat. By definition, science is theoretical; that which is supposedly true can at another time based on empirical observation be proven untrue, or at least open to question. Science is at best a tenuous thing on which to base a worldview.
Recent Comments