You only live twice, Wowbagger! Has James Bond taught you nothing?
1) I just realized that yes, I could probably dispute this, but somehow, I don't feel like going over THAT, too. Maybe later.
5) I know I'll probably receive massive negative Karma for bringing this up, but it's easy to say slavery is wrong when you're looking back at it from our perspective. However *draws deep breath*, there were economic reasons back in the days that meant slavery was viable. People made money off it, commerce flourished from it, and I have my doubts that the US could have gotten to a leading position that fast without slavery or the semi-slavery of "corporate towns" and such. Now, I firmly believe slavery is morally wrong, but at the time, that wasn't exactly a very popular opinion. People *believed* it was, if not right, then at least justified. Lincoln made a hell of an effort *not* to come out and say that he thought slavery should be made illegal.
The morale of the story? Somebody will come along in the future and wonder why we ever argued.
6) So as an added "screw you" to the part of the populace that's least likely to have thought through getting pregnant, you're also forcing them to carry it through? Sure, an abortion will probably be regretted later, but giving the emotionally needy a peptalk on responsibility won't help. (By the same token, forcing an abortion would be equally bad, if not much worse.) So the teenagers - financially dependant and busy with getting their education and building their own existence - get saddled with kids. So it's either being supremely stressed in the period where their life will not cope with just missing a year or two to care for children or giving the child away. Maybe the grandparents will take care of it during the day, if you're lucky.
I know, the situation is already bad, but this doesn't sound like an improvement. Education remains the favored weapon for me.
7) Of course, laws were first derived from moral codes. But is that still viable today? When we have laws for an entire nation, whose moral code do we use?
What precisely would you say are arguments against gay marriage, on secular grounds? I mean, I can see the religious point of view, but ignoring perceived morality, my question is: why not? What's so fundamentally wrong and harmful to society at large about it?
In my opinion, there is no absolute right or wrong. There are things I, here, in this moment, agree with, and things I disagree with. At large, there are a few basic things most of us can agree with, and that is what the majority will define as "right" or "legal", but that does not mean it is *right* independantly of those people.
Life *is* a network of power relationships. It generally works, and like many other animals, humans are obsessed with hierarchies, order and structures. There is a strong feeling of cause and effect that pervades everything we do. Show up in the office in the morning, do work, get paid, buy food, eat, survive. Our actions are based on reasons and driven by the result we wish to archieve. The primary goals of any lifeform are survival and reproduction. "Gaining the upper hand" does not mean becoming Supreme Overlord of All Mankind. It means surviving, staying on top of the game. And yes, there's lots of people who fail. That's regrettable, but it's been that way for as long as life has existed, and is unlikely to change in the near future.
Wars generally suck for all involved, but they too have been part of the pattern for a long time. Unless fundamental changes in the economic reality happen (and I'm talking replicator post-scarcity economics here), war will continue. We won't be plunged into war; we've been involved in one for as long as mankind's collective memory serves.
Yeah, I know, it's a sobering thought.
Gatac