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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: thames_sider who wrote (5681)	2/13/2001 8:01:45 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

It's a pleasure discussing with you. ut societies do define moral, right, in their own terms Ah, but do they? Can't we say that individuals truly define moral right and wrong? By that view -- and bear with me, this is a new approach for me and I'm testing it, not promoting it -- morality is based in the individual, not the society, and individuals seek to create societies which share the most commonly held views of morality, but, as Niebuhr pointed out, fail for basic systemic reasons. I believe that the Nazi genocide of Jews (and others they saw as unhuman) was unequivocally wrong, immoral, evil. They, presumably, did not. This, then, is the key. Some -- many? -- of the Germans who actually knew what was going on were repulsed by it, but felt they had no choice but to go along. If the truth had been presented to the German people in open discussion by a free press, would the German people really have thought it was right, moral, and good? I doubt it. Thus, the immorality was not in the failure of personal morality, but the psychological imperative of mob rule which was fostered by the way in which Germany was treated after WWI and the misery which needed, and found, an outlet. Is this making any kind of sense?