I am sick and tired of social and religious conservatives telling me what I believe.  Given that no one who’s gone down that path has ever asked me, they’re simply making up stuff to make me either play the ‘straight’ man in their conversations with themselves or they’re spouting the opinions given to them by other people that haven’t asked me either.

So, I’m going to tell you what I believe.  If you don’t like my opinions, then you’re free to tell me so.  I don’t have all the answers and I’m not always right, so I’m interested in discussing issues and seeing different perspectives.  If, however, you want me to conform to your pre-conceived notions of what I ‘should’ believe, then piss off – I’m not interested in being pigeon-holed.

This is the first of many parts:

Moral Relativism

(If you want to read up on the concepts behind Moral Relativism, try going here, or here, or here.)

I am not a Moral Relativist nor do I claim to be one.  True Moral Relativism would preclude any standard of behavior as condemning one set of behavior would tend to suggest that one set of morals is superior to another.  Now, I do believe that different people and different cultures have different sets of morals.  I do not believe that these different sets are equally valid – since, being a human, I think mine are more correct than yours.  What I don’t claim are that mine are perfect – I am constantly learning and constantly re-defining my moral position on the world.

Where the difference lies is what is defined as a moral.  There is no Big List of Morals that has been agreed upon by everyone.  There is just the little lists that we create and then pretend are the Big List. 

In some cases, the line is drawn so that what some consider being a moral issue I think is outside the realm of morality and instead falls into other realms, usually religious.  Take homosexuality as an example.  I do not believe that being gay is moral or immoral.  It just is.  It’s like being a brunette or being left-handed.  I will not argue being gay on moral grounds.  Whether or not it’s ‘right’ or ‘against God’ or ‘icky’ are completely different arguments and I will discuss them.

Now, what I do believe to be a moral is that all people deserve to be treated equally and with respect.  Therefore, beating someone up for being gay or taking away their ability to hold a job or live peaceably is immoral.  Likewise, treating members of other ethnic groups or members of other religions as second-class citizens is immoral.

In other cases, I share a moral view that is fairly pan-cultural but am much more absolutist about it.  For example, one common moral is that it is wrong to kill other people.  In abrahamic religions, this is expressed in the Commandment that ‘Thou shalt not kill.”  When it comes to killing, I am quite absolutist.  It is wrong to kill other people, period.  Therefore, murdering someone during a robbery is immoral.  Likewise, executing a murderer is also immoral.

Sometimes, a moral stance conflicts with an immoral one.  For example, protecting the rights of a downtrodden minority is moral.  Killing is immoral.  So, when it’s necessary to kill to protect others, there are both moral and immoral issues in play.  In these instances, given that the perpetrator of the initial crime requiring defense is also acting in an immoral manner, then the morality of the situation outweighs the immorality of it. 

These areas can be a dangerous realm in that many of the ways the defense occurs could lead into greater immorality thereby erasing the moral side.  This can be seen in the US government incarcerating Japanese Americans during WWII.  The US was attacked by Japan so we defended ourselves.  That was a morally justifiable position.  But, to round up all people of Japanese decent in the name of defense was immoral.