Taboo and Morality Quiz

[notyoueither]

So, morals trump customs, in some cases.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Oh. So you admit there can be a moral wrong where the society practicing such customs sees none.

I made that clear about twenty posts ago when I stated that I was not a moral relativist.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by notyoueither
So, morals trump customs, in some cases.

Of course. Customs have no inherent value. Human beings have emotional attachments to customs, and I avoid violating custom where possible (I don't do it just to be a dick).

But if custom was for every guest to kill a child at the beginning of a feast held by the local chieftain, then I would not abide by the custom.

[notyoueither]

So then, you will abandon this

The flag is just a piece of cloth. If there is no harm intended then there should be no harm taken. If there is harm intended, then that is what I would take offence to, not the actual act.

Cannibals intend no offence for eating your aunt Edna.

[KrazyHorse]

What?

You've lost it again, NYE.

The maple leaf is not a moral object. It's a piece of cloth. If somebody intends no offence (and, in fact, is ignorant that it might cause offence) when they blow their nose with it then I will take none. The act of blowing your nose with the red and white is amoral when the person doing it does not understand the custom surrounding the flag.

The act of eating my dear, departed auntie Edna is also amoral. Again, with the same restrictions as before (if you understand that it will cause me distress then you shouldn't do it)

The act of killing my auntie Edna in order to consume her is immoral. Murder is murder is murder.

[KrazyHorse]

It's very simple, NYE.

[notyoueither]

To you, perhaps.

But perhaps some people place more importance on pieces of cloth than you do.

Telling me that God has inspired my morals by my preferring a state where flags of various people are respected over one where they are used as asswipe is hardly a demonstration of a profound understanding of morality.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by notyoueither

But, I think the fish is stuck up about frozen chickens.

I certainly wouldn't trust someone who sticks it up a frozen chicken on a regular basis to cook me a roast dinner. I would also have serious concerns about their general mental health, but that's just me.

None of the issues were moral concerns, but to be honest in the quiz I had to say that something was not right. ****ing chickens ain't right.

[KrazyHorse]

No, it's a demonstration of the fact that you're having difficulty disaggregating custom and morality.

I understand that some people feel an emotional attachment to that piece of cloth. I myself have at least some emotional attachment to it. But:

Take Canada. Our national symbol (at least one of them) is the maple leaf. Now, hypothesise that instead of only turning the stylised representation of a maple leaf into a sacred object, we also revered real maple leaves. All of them. And say there was another country where people used maple leaves to wipe their asses (maple leaves being very plentiful and having a nice, quilted texture). Are you going to tell me that it's immoral for them to do so? Especially if they haven't a clue that what they're doing is considered taboo in canuckistan?

The reason they're telling you that your morals are inspired by God is that you're taking a situation in which actions which are wholly innocent, and which (until the day you visited) had never caused distress to a single person and claiming it as a moral wrong.

[KrazyHorse]

The immorality in violating customs does not lie in the violation itself, but in the distress it causes others. If a nation has no understanding of the fact that Canadians revere their flag then no wrong is being done by its use as a mop in that nation.

[Az]

KH and NYE: your discussion on the importance of intent in establishing the ethical value of an action, and the discussion on the borders of the dominance of personal preference and custom in judging the ethical value of personal actions are very interesting.

[notyoueither]

And the cannibals had never caused distress to a single person. After all, they did not consider their dinner to be a person.

[KrazyHorse]

And they are wrong. Because that is a moral issue, and is to be judged in absolute terms.

[notyoueither]

Why, because it is a hairless ape?

[KrazyHorse]

Ripping apart flags is not an absolute moral wrong. It is a moral wrong when it offends a person. Flags are not moral objects. Dead bodies are not moral objects. Menstrual blood is not a moral object. Cows are not moral objects. The Atlantic Ocean is not a moral object. Living, breathing, people are moral objects. They are, in fact, the only element of the set of moral objects. They are also the only element of the set of moral agents. Only human beings are capable of doing wrong, and only human beings are capable of having wrong done to them.