...sparked by a conversation earlier today.
You know what I really hate, even more than mushrooms or stepping in dog shit?
The popular ramifications of extreme moral relativism.
As someone without any sort of structured or mandated belief system, I applaud the breaking down of the perception of absolute truth; I'm okay with different people having different ideas of what is good or bad or beautiful, as long as they stay out of my ethical teepee. I even accept that everyone is entitled to unique opinions, which they must be allowed to express to be part of a free society (my particular morality is structured almost entirely around a utopian devotion to liberty, but that's a story for another day).
What really burns my britches is the accompanying bullshit that springs up only with the most hardcore or fucking dumbshit relativists. These sissyfied philosophers try to argue that not only does everyone have the right to have and to express their opinion, but that to criticize that opinion is to unfairly impose your moral structure on theirs, to violate their very rights as a rational being.
Remember when you were a kid, and you did things you weren't supposed to, like kick your neighbors or try to eat only cookies for a week, and you were reprimanded, to which you said, "I can do what I want; it's a free country."* It sounds like that to me. Like the child clinging to the AMERICA=FREE ideal long past its rational boundaries, these people have become so determined to be accepting that they've become caricatures themselves.
*This probably only affects my American readers, but I'm sure you for'ners get the point.
Once you put someone's statements and beliefs past ridicule or criticism, no matter how benevolent the intentions, you have created a system that fosters that which is worst in humankindour tendency to cling to that which is easy, that which is safe, and that which does not demand of us. It is through the challenges to our scientific, ethical, and metaphysical beliefs that we evolve. Nothing is sacred or beyond rebuke. The best way to challenge is through laughter and through logic, which is why Monsieur Voltaire was such an absolute fucking genius.
I'm not trying to imply that there's anything admirable about saying, "you're wrong; shut the fuck up" or in censorship of flat-earth literature or racist tracts, because saying "you can't say that" is exactly the behavior I find so irritating in extremist relativism. But the ability to stand up and say, "I disagree. I feel that you are wrong. Here is why," is why I'm so glad I was born H. sapiens and not Australopithecus. I think this now qualifies as a rant. Fuck.
But what do I know? I'm just a dumbshit little libertarian*, who is barely out of diapers in the grand scheme of time and space, and you're all just here to see my tits anyway, which, if you think about it, is a raw deal for y'all.
*little "L," not big "L."
You know what I really hate, even more than mushrooms or stepping in dog shit?
The popular ramifications of extreme moral relativism.
As someone without any sort of structured or mandated belief system, I applaud the breaking down of the perception of absolute truth; I'm okay with different people having different ideas of what is good or bad or beautiful, as long as they stay out of my ethical teepee. I even accept that everyone is entitled to unique opinions, which they must be allowed to express to be part of a free society (my particular morality is structured almost entirely around a utopian devotion to liberty, but that's a story for another day).
What really burns my britches is the accompanying bullshit that springs up only with the most hardcore or fucking dumbshit relativists. These sissyfied philosophers try to argue that not only does everyone have the right to have and to express their opinion, but that to criticize that opinion is to unfairly impose your moral structure on theirs, to violate their very rights as a rational being.
Remember when you were a kid, and you did things you weren't supposed to, like kick your neighbors or try to eat only cookies for a week, and you were reprimanded, to which you said, "I can do what I want; it's a free country."* It sounds like that to me. Like the child clinging to the AMERICA=FREE ideal long past its rational boundaries, these people have become so determined to be accepting that they've become caricatures themselves.
*This probably only affects my American readers, but I'm sure you for'ners get the point.
Once you put someone's statements and beliefs past ridicule or criticism, no matter how benevolent the intentions, you have created a system that fosters that which is worst in humankindour tendency to cling to that which is easy, that which is safe, and that which does not demand of us. It is through the challenges to our scientific, ethical, and metaphysical beliefs that we evolve. Nothing is sacred or beyond rebuke. The best way to challenge is through laughter and through logic, which is why Monsieur Voltaire was such an absolute fucking genius.
I'm not trying to imply that there's anything admirable about saying, "you're wrong; shut the fuck up" or in censorship of flat-earth literature or racist tracts, because saying "you can't say that" is exactly the behavior I find so irritating in extremist relativism. But the ability to stand up and say, "I disagree. I feel that you are wrong. Here is why," is why I'm so glad I was born H. sapiens and not Australopithecus. I think this now qualifies as a rant. Fuck.
But what do I know? I'm just a dumbshit little libertarian*, who is barely out of diapers in the grand scheme of time and space, and you're all just here to see my tits anyway, which, if you think about it, is a raw deal for y'all.
*little "L," not big "L."
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Philosophy has too many big words that require dictionary checks.
Heres what it all boils down too: Chill out, Hang loose or fuck off.