Moral Grandfathering

[Lorizael]

During Prohibition, people drank. They were breaking the law, but odds are we don't condemn them for doing so because drinking is allowed now and we think that's probably the way it should be. Are there cases where this might not be so? That is, are there acts which are legal now but which we would still say were wrong to commit when the law was different? If so, what distinguishes the first case from the second?

[BeBMan]

Hm, difficult - stuff that's illegal in the past is formally wrong then, but if you add in "someth. that is legal now" (making in not wrong today) then it's hard to argue why we should still see it as wrong back then....

[Dauphin]

Wartime laws, like turning lights off at night. Eminently sensible in the blitz. Stupid law today.

[rah]

During Prohibition, people drank. They were breaking the law, but odds are we don't condemn them for doing so because drinking is allowed now and we think that's probably the way it should be. Are there cases where this might not be so? That is, are there acts which are legal now but which we would still say were wrong to commit when the law was different? If so, what distinguishes the first case from the second?

Laws without any moral implication.
Financial/banking laws, which change all the time but have very little moral implication (not considering any imact). When it's illegal determines when it's considered wrong.

[Aeson]

If by “we” we mean a significant fraction of the population not necessarily including ourselves, there are many examples. Sodomy, homosexual marriage/adoption, marijuana use. As the % of population we consider significant drops the more examples there are.

[Berzerker]

Some laws are moral, some are not... Prohibition was immoral, it dont matter that booze is legal now. Seems adultery would fit the bill but I dont know if its legal now as opposed to illegal in the past.

[ZEE]

[Dinner]

Weed is the obvious parallel.

[rah]

I don't think it's a great one since pot wasn't really legal in modern times so it's not like a lot of hippies in the 60's were smoking it legally prior. Since it's been illegal for most alive today, it's doesn't have the same vibe.

[Dry]

Laws related to health come to mind.
Old abrahamic laws forbidding to eat pork made sense without fridges.
No defecating within the camp limits back then; today our toilets are even inside our houses.

[Elok]

I think it's perfectly reasonable to make the case that it was immoral to drink during Prohibition. At least, if you were aware that the alcohol was mostly provided by gangsters, and thus that your purchase was sending money to men who did terrible things. In effect, you're deciding that you want a beer badly enough that you don't care if you're giving money to murderers and extortionists, and fueling a gang war. I mean, if we can get upset about blood diamonds and fair trade produce, why not about booze? Or weed?

[Uncle Sparky]

Both my grandfathers helped supply Americans with booze during your Prohibition. They weren't doing anything illegal or immoral from a Canadian perspective. Neither were gangsters.

[Elok]

Well, Wiki says Al Capone was only responsible for 33 deaths, so you may be on to something there.

EDIT: Sorry, grammatical ambiguity; "neither were gangsters" could mean neither of your grandfathers was a gangster, or that gangsters weren't doing anything illegal or immoral. In any case, a lot of that booze was caught up in violent crime, and a lot of people died for it.

[Dinner]

I think it's perfectly reasonable to make the case that it was immoral to drink during Prohibition. At least, if you were aware that the alcohol was mostly provided by gangsters, and thus that your purchase was sending money to men who did terrible things. In effect, you're deciding that you want a beer badly enough that you don't care if you're giving money to murderers and extortionists, and fueling a gang war. I mean, if we can get upset about blood diamonds and fair trade produce, why not about booze? Or weed?

I know this is very legalistic but it has never been illegal to drink in the US even during prohibition it was legal to drink provided said alcohol was originally purchased prior to prohibition. It was illegal to make, transport, or sell alcohol during prohibition but a great many wealthy families simply stocked up and filled tgeir wine cellars and basements with a lifetime supply of booze prior to prohibition taking effect. They even kept all the receipts to prove their booze was legal.

Thus why even President Hoover could go to cocktail parties at his wealthy friends houses without technically breaking any laws.

[Lorizael]

I think it's perfectly reasonable to make the case that it was immoral to drink during Prohibition. At least, if you were aware that the alcohol was mostly provided by gangsters, and thus that your purchase was sending money to men who did terrible things. In effect, you're deciding that you want a beer badly enough that you don't care if you're giving money to murderers and extortionists, and fueling a gang war. I mean, if we can get upset about blood diamonds and fair trade produce, why not about booze? Or weed?

Well this does make most acts of first world consumption immoral. Not saying it shouldn't, just that the implications aren't great.