CallaFirestormBW
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quote:
ORIGINAL: QuixoticErrant
Really, do you obey the law? Do you pay your taxes? Of course ethical systems in a social contract are mandatory. Even beyond that, would you make a scene at a funeral or someone's wedding? Do you think that if you did the people there would have a right to kick you out? Of course basic decency can be mandatory. There is a disconnect in comprehension, but it is not mine.
Informationally, I obey the law as long as it has not a law that impedes the right of another to do what they choose with their bodies or denies basic civility and humanity to another person or group. But then, that's my personal ethic. Humanity isn't a matter of gender preference, body shape, color, size, spiritual affiliation or not, etc. It is living, as a human being, in a human body, period. That gives you the inalienable right to love who you love, and do what you want with your body, as long as you don't use that freedom to damage another. Once you intrude on another person, then yes, the repercussions are that that you will likely be stopped (hopefully before you do any permanent damage!)... and justice doesn't come in a package that uses 'morality' to deny a person the right to do what they damned well please with their own body, including giving it the hell away if that's what suits them. (Sorry, folks, for getting a little riled up... this is a huge and profound subject for me -- I would hazard to say it is the concept on which the entire foundation of my existence rests!)
I pay my taxes. I don't pay my taxes because I -have- to, or because the "law" demands it. If the law had any teeth, we wouldn't have multi-billionaires getting by without paying a single red cent in taxes. I pay taxes because I use roads, and I like -having- roads. I pay taxes because I think that universal health care is a smart idea -- people who are healthy are more productive, and people who aren't worrying about how they're going to pay for an emergency have all that brain energy available for other things -- and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, and -pay- for the things that I value. Sure, the PTB does things with my money that I think are completely idiotic, and if I could pay for the stuff that is important to me myself, instead of using the government as a middle-man, I'd be glad to do that -- but paying taxes isn't a legal issue for me, it is just good common sense if you want to use common goods and live in common community. It's the same principle by which our household runs -- if you're part of the household, you're contributing in some tangible way to its upkeep and evolution... and not just for your own stuff, but for the good of the whole house. But it isn't -compelled-... people are welcome to choose to do their own thing and go their own way, and they don't even have to give up being family... we still cherish them, even if they choose to go their own way.
I might make a scene at someone's funeral, or wedding, or whatever -- and they'd have every right to kick me out -- but that has nothing to do with mandatory altruism, and =everything= to do with taking personal responsibility for ones actions. If I'm going to choose to act like an ass, then I have earned, by my actions, and by the damage it did to the enjoyment of others and the gravity of the event.
Dame Calla
< Message edited by CallaFirestormBW -- 6/24/2009 5:06:02 PM >
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Said to me recently: "Look, I know you're the "voice of reason"... but dammit, I LIKE being unreasonable!!!!"
"Your mind is more interested in the challenge of becoming than the challenge of doing." Jon Benson, Bodybuilder/Trainer
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