(January 25, 2018 at 11:49 am)wallym Wrote:(January 25, 2018 at 11:36 am)Cyberman Wrote: Those things you listed are fundamentally different from any post-mortem judgement and ensuing punishment - I know they exist and can be taken from me without any notice. However, it's even more basic than the fear of losing what I have which prevents me from raping, killing and torturing, or even lying, stealing and cheating - I simply don't want to. I'm not wired that way. That some people think that the only thing stopping them being 'evil', for want of a better word, is fear of reprisal - illusory or otherwise - is a revealing commentary about them, as opposed to a thing lacking in me.
Why don't you want to do it, is the trick. It's all very tenuous. In my opinion, what keeps us from being awful is circumstance. If you and I were born 200 years ago, we'd very likely have no problem owning some slaves. 400 years ago, we'd almost certainly be devoutly religious, maybe burning some people for witchcraft? I don't think there's anything special about you and I that we aren't out raping and stealing. What's special is the circumstances into which we were born. That's primarily what's kept us from being a terrible people. A coincidence of time and place.
But we still needed to justify those actions somehow.
With the slaves, we justified it by telling ourselves they aren't really people, or that we are somehow doing them a favor/it's for their own good, or that it was for the net good of higher priority humans (Side note: gee, where have I heard those exact justifications in the modern day)
With witch burning, it was seen as a defense of society against dangerous people who could do harm, and the cruel, painful death was "necessary" as a way to deter more people from becoming witches.
Of course both those acts are heinous, and we know better now, thank goodness. But my point is that for most people, there is indeed an inherent desire to do good. If not, then we wouldn't have needed justifications to commit atrocities as the ones above.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh
