Good and Evil

[bennyboy]

And he wasn't wrong.

He was wrong! Per me!   But in all seriousness, why would anyone resist laughing me out of the room if I said the following statement?
"As God of my own existence, I hereby decree myself, and only myself, qualified to decide what is true and false." Or, instead of true and false, "rational and irrational." Or, "scientific and unscientific." Just as we believe there are critics of art who have more experience in determining what is good art versus bad art, and experts in the sciences who are better at interpreting data (which we also determine in large part by the consensus of expertise), and so on and so forth, why wouldn't we also believe there are moral philosophers who have also spent more time analyzing different states of the mind and situations whereby people experienced greater fulfillment out of life so as to trust their judgment (supported by facts and reasons, of course) about ethics in the same way that we rely on other experts?

Okay, about Manson.  He was right in that he had the capability of establishing a moral system for himself (or more amoral, it seems).  He was even persuasive enough to convince a few people to accept him as god of THEIR worlds, as well.  And this is not that different than how Nazi morality allowed the branding of gypseys as baby-eaters, or Jews as shifty, subhuman non-humans.

Whether there are others who have a better grip on morality is irrelevant if we accept that morality is subjective.  I'm free to arbitrarily establish whatever ideas I like about good and evil.  HOWEVER, and this is the big caveat, so is everyone else.  Being god of my own existence won't be much use to me if I have a bullet hole through my head, or if I'm trapped in prison.