Currently I'm writing an extended essay (Think of what David Neiwart does over at Orcinus) on morality, with a focus on a more modern and less..ahem..religious bent. Morality has always been something I'm interested in, but when I try to explore it, your options are pretty much limited to a series of right-wing religious blowhards.
But I keep coming back to this one thing. I wanted to throw it out there, mostly so I could keep it in the diaries and link back to it when I need to.
In a nutshell. Abortion and Gay Marriage/Rights are completly manafactured issues that actually have very little to do with morality, and a whole lot to do with political control.
Morality is not everything it's cracked up to be. How often do we talk about things with a moral perspective? Well...not very often. In fact, it's pretty much limited to abortion and gay rights these days. Seriously. What else do you really see big moral arguments over? Not very much.
But my feeling is morality is something we need MORE of, not less. Morality is the glue, the respect for others that keeps society humming along. So this lack of discussion really hurts things a whole lot. But whenever morality comes up, it links right back to these two issues.
My whole argument, is that these two issues are in fact, due to the nature of the arguments made for them, are completly worthless. We're arguing about facts and terms that are devoid of any sort of moral feeling behind them, almost as if it's the shell of a soul. It's made all nice and pretty and hulking so it looks like one, but it's a shell none the less.
Abortion:I'll put it simple. The Pro-Life insistance of KEEPING the debate at strictly religous terms makes it almost impossible to come to any comprimise to actually resolve the issue. Which wouldn't be so bad in and of itself, but the terms we use are strictly meaningless. We really, in society as a whole, don't believe that life begins strictly at conception. Most fertile eggs end up as miscarriages, and we simply shrug our shoulders at it. Because of this...it's almost like hypocrisy..you say you believe one way and act almost completly differently. It makes the whole argument basically meaningless and futile..because we're dealing with changing definitions, emotions and even moral judgements.
Gay Marriage:Again, the problem is keeping things strictly in terms of religious views. As seeing marriage as a religious ceremony, instead of what it really is, at least in the eyes of the law, a simple contract. In fact, it's a shorthand for a multitude of contracts, a lot of which can't really be replicated by private citizens.
But what really takes the cake is linking it to slippery slope arguments. That it'll lead to incestious relationships (result in genetically sick offspring), or polygamy (In which the contract law is basically impossible, marriage being meant for two people exclusivly, of course..and nobody has EVER talked about non-married 2+ relationships ever being restricted..mostly because I suspect a lot of powers that be actually enjoy this sort of thing. For example, think of GHWB and his concubines of sorts.)
But we don't talk about it in those terms. We talk about it in the terms that are black and white. They're meant to divide people instead of bring them together.
Morality is intended to be the glue that keeps our society together. The elitest right-wing conservatives use morality as a wedge to tear things apart....mostly so they can feel all high and morally superior so they can do other things without feeling bad about themselves.
Anyway. That's my feeling on these things. I don't mean any offense to people who feel different about those two issues I meantioned, I'm not talking about the people on the other side themselves, just in how the loudest advocates tend to frame the issues. Anybody who made it down here, thanks for the time.