Fair enough. People in academia are a little too sensitive about suggestions of plagiarism, perhaps. Mea Culpa. My style of writing is probably influenced by several decades of dealing with editors, peer reviewers, and publishers who admonish me to write like a scientist thinks, not like a north Louisiana redneck talks. Ain't it a bitch. Ooops! I mean . . . Is it not an immensely ironic situation? I feel quite strongly about many issues here. And you can probably tell. But, as martin and G_MAN have perceived, there are other times when I really don't have a dog in the fight and I act as the devil's advocate for the underdog just to keep a discussion from being one-sided. Still, my opinions are sincere. I suppose that keyboarding on Tigerforums is more like technical writing to me rather than a verbal exchange. If I get too stuffy at times, remind me to take off the mortarboard and put on my feed-store cap. :grin:
Ah, there's the rub. One man's moral issue is another man's non-issue. It's difficult to find universal truths when the definitions are not universally accepted.
Our morality isn't any different than it was in the early to mid 1900's. We had school shootings, car jackings and chases, Kids and adults abducted at school, in their homes and on the street just like today. You just didn't hear about all this because we didn't have the 24 hour News networks or the technology to operate them back then. Prison overcrowding and the evil corporations were just as bad back then! The numbers in these cases are probably less and less every year too. The divorce rate and kids growing up on the streets and in jail, tv teaches them how to act and what to do because the parents are no where around. Yep, I agree with some of you, these things happened way back then, you just didn't hear about them because the technology and the news networks wasn't around. Yep, you see, our morals are no different than they have ever been. There is no longer right or wrong because everyone's right or wrong is different. "Jerry Falwell's morality is no more representative of middle America than is Hugh Hefner's. And middle America itself has a broad range of moral issues on which there is no consensus." In todays society you are correct, 40 years ago you are incorrect. Has our society changed since then? I guess if it has,that isn't a moral issue because that is subjective to the person. Is there anything wrong with someone taking advantage of someone to better their lives? Its not against the law, seems kinda muddy to me! :lol: :grin: One more thing, its not illegal to cheat on one's spouse. If a person has no problem with it that means its ok?
Naturally, good and bad people have always existed in our American society. My great grandparents on my father's side of the family were murdered in cold blood in their own home in the 1930's, for example. People have been having sex out of wedlock for all time, for another example. I don't think that morality can be legislated at all. Morality IS different from the law. The Texas cheerleading legislation is ludicrous--especially when those jokers STILL haven't solved our school financing problem, and they're passing laws with no teeth (since it doesn't even define lewdness) about cheerleading routines. With all of that being said, do any of us feel like our country is headed in the right moral direction? Do societies truly continue to exist when "whatever feels good and right" to every person is the way we go about life? Sexual predators feel good when they prey on children. But it doesn't make it right. I teach school, and I must say that the influence of TV and the decline of the nuclear family are true concerns. And we do parallel the ancient Romans before their fall. Are we so conceited to think that our relatively young nation cannot falter? How far away are we from a reality TV show where we have modern-day gladiators in a stadium in fights to the death?
Thanks for the props on being a teacher, goldengirlfan. Fortunately for me, I teach in Plano, and the pay is good, but the Robin Hood finance system has literally drained the lifeblood from ours and about 10 other "rich" districts in Texas. Living in a city with lots of million dollar houses does, apparently, have some disadvantages--in that the state has been robbing us to give to the "poor," who are NOT maxed out on property taxes, like we are in Plano. Is Round Rock one of the Robin Hood districts? That area is fairly affluent, too, right?
Sounds alot like Welfare and the Social Security system. We would be so much better off if the goverment just stayed out of the way and not tried to "fix" things or level the playing field for rich and poor. The government can't manage anything on any level. I would rather the private sector take care of these kind of issues even though I think Welfare and Social Security should vanish as we know it. We didn't need it before FDR nor did we have it. I do realize that a few people such as disabled people who can't work such as Down Syndrome, Autistic or others out there who have physical problems. Just tired of healthy people taking advantage of the system including congress and whoever is lazy or just don't want to work. There are alot of people in this country that won't work unless they get the perfect job, I always did everything I had to do to bring in the money! Sorry, didn't mean to change the subject but couldn't resist this issue.
right on red. loony religion X is certain they know the right morals, but lunatic religion Z is sure their imaginary friend told them the right morals. when you base your morals on faith you really cant argue that anyone is wrong, because you are, by your own admittance, irrational. faith is by definition, belief without (and often in spite of) evidence. once you go down the road of crazy irrationality you really lose your ability to criticize the others who are doing the same.
Ok so i'm a little late on this thread, and i'm sure some of you aren't exactly thrilled to see me posting. But you had to know I wasn't going to keep my mouth shut. If only it were that simple. Think about it like this: most people agree that stealing is wrong. I'm sure you do, as do I. However, what about the man who steals food so his family can eat? Let's avoid the technicality of the situation, like welfare and all those other factors, and focus on the act itself. Provided that it were the only way that he could provide for his family, would you consider it wrong? I certainly wouldn't. There have been philosophers, like Emmanuel Kant, who profess the belief that if something is considered wrong in one situation, it must be considered wrong in all situations, regadless of circumstance. I, however, strongly disagree with that. I'm somewhat of a utilitarian, although that brings with it an overwhelming sense of subjectivity. Futher, if there's no moderate side, then there could never be varying degrees of 'right and wrong'. Certainnly, I believe it's more wrong to murder than to steal. Heck, I think its more wrong to steal something from someone who needs it as opposed to someone who doesn't. I think it's wrong to steal from Wal-Mart. But I think it would be more wrong to steal from the mom & pop convenience store. I guess that's the utilitarian in me. Has society changed, or have people changed? I don't think it would be very fair to say that mankind has changed. I don't think that the innermost being of man has changed since he was created. Without question, what has become 'acceptable' has changed tremendously. But thats really just a dynamic of the mass communication/marketing entity. Sex and vioelence sell. Period. Is man more attracted to women than he was 40 years ago? No. Are people greedier than they were back then? No. Being German and being someone whose life revolves around science, I believe that a single entity is merely the sum of it's individual parts. Therefore, I would conclude that society, which is a conglomeration of individual beings, has not changed.
since god tells man the difference between right and wrong, i cant understand why muslims kill so much. thats weird. in fact, whenever i see video of muslims cutting off heads or shooting people, they are always screaming "god is great" over and over. i guess god sometimes like to slaughter innocent people. that god, he is a real joker. he works in mysterious ways. you would think god would tell his people to stop slicing each other's heads off, but i guess he loves a bloody massacre on occasion.
