OT: Insightful (re: Amish shooting)

[Puke]

dmm said:If ALL moral systems are simply opinion, then ALL are a load of crap. In that case, anyone who doesn't do whatever he can get away with is a fool. So Ted Bundy was smart to rape and kill little girls. Why not?

well sure thats true. but while its true, heres the "why not":

our shared set of laws and mutually-agreed sense of "morality" is generally beneficial to those that participate in it. it provides some sense of assurance that the horrible things that you spare other from, will in turn be spared delivery upon you.

The other part of "why not" is that you might fear reprisal, either legal or extralegal. Ted Bundy might not have been smart to comit his crimes, when you consider what came to him. If the consequences of his actions dont outweigh the pleasure he got from them, then sure he was smart to do it. or at least a rational economic actor.

on the other hand, I certainly would have gouged his eyes out if I had the chance. Not because it would be my Moral obligation to do so, but because it helps uphold our (society's) mutually consentual system of laws and morals. "morals" not "Morals". It benefits me to uphold them, so i do.

[Renegade 13]

People always tend to see the past through eyes that aren't quite objective. We tend to gloss over the bad and focus on the good. The result? Doom and gloom predictions, "oh man, society's going down the crapper, things are just gonna get worse, what are we gonna do?".