Everything isn't black and white. There's shades of gray.

[Sims2789]

This isn't really news to me, but it seems like a good chunk of people divide politics, and the world, into two absolute camps of good vs. evil, future vs. past, etc., but there's really shades of gray in between.

To use the current presidential election as an example, I'm very critical of Hillary Clinton's stance on free speech. However, even she voted against the Flag Burning Amendment, and probably holds more patriotic free speech views than she espouses when she proposed a compromise banning flag burning on federal property.

Though Hillary might have proposed the flag burning law to avoid the amendment, she probably actually thinks regulating videogames is okay. So, my point is that the world isn't as simple as it seems since people often operate as a shade of gray and hold views consistent with that shade.

 

[Arwon]

I don't believe in grey. It's an absurd liberal myth.

 

[Sims2789]

I don't believe in grey. It's an absurd liberal myth.

Are you referring to political correctness? I worried that my thread would get misinterpreted as a call for moral relativism and acceptance (as opposed to tolerance) of undemocratic beliefs.

 

[Arwon]

I'm actually just being a smartarse. I think most criticisms of so-called "moral relativism" are pretty bad misunderstandings of the essential concept.

Is the correct spelling grey or gray? I can never tell.

 

[JollyRoger]

All cats are grey in the dark. Some are just greyer than others.

 

[Arwon]

Also, I think the tendency to see things in terms of two diametrically opposed, apocalyptically clashing absolutes is a particularly American political trait. Americans seem to generally like that sort of "two opposing camps" narrative.

 

[Sims2789]

I'm actually just being a smartarse. I think most criticisms of so-called "moral relativism" are pretty bad misunderstandings of the essential concept.

Is the correct spelling grey or gray? I can never tell.

Both are acceptable spellings.

 

[Elta]

It's Not just politics. *"Everything nearly everyone says is an exaggeration" - The Egyptian god of night Set

Actual quote: all thing of earth are exaggerated

Everyone exaggerates everything they say.

 

[Elta]

Bah! double post

 

[bhsup]

When it comes to moral issues, yes indeed there is right/wrong black/white good/evil, etc. It may be complex, but eventually any moral situation can be boiled down to good or bad.

If you cannot do that, you are just wishy washy.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Everything isn't black and white. There's shades of gray.

I agree, but why must this need to be discussed?

 

[Sims2789]

When it comes to moral issues, yes indeed there is right/wrong black/white good/evil, etc. It may be complex, but eventually any moral situation can be boiled down to good or bad.

If you cannot do that, you are just wishy washy.

Abortion isn't purely good vs. bad. If you think a fetus is a life, you should be against it in almost all circumstances, even for rape, though you could argue self defense when the mother's life's at risk. If you think it isn't a life, you should support it until it becomes a life, which may be at birth, the second trimester, third, etc.

Even ignoring these details, support or opposition for abortion isn't a simply good vs. bad issue, since whether you support it largely depends on whether and when you think a fetus is a life or not, which is unrelated to being morally right or wrong.

 

[.Shane.]

I think most criticisms of so-called "moral relativism" are pretty bad misunderstandings of the essential concept.

Well, I find that those who complain the most about "moral relativism" exercise a disproportionate amount of it themselves.

When it comes to moral issues, yes indeed there is right/wrong black/white good/evil, etc. It may be complex, but eventually any moral situation can be boiled down to good or bad.

You mean like copyright law?

I kiid, I kiid.

 

[Brighteye]

I'll say the same analogy I thought up a long time ago, and always use.
The world of morality is indeed black and white, just as an old television is black and white. We only see grey if we don't examine it in enough detail.

Grey is the correct spelling, except for a few limited and rare meanings of the word. Gray is used in the U.S.A. interchangeably with grey.

 

[warpus]

When it comes to moral issues, yes indeed there is right/wrong black/white good/evil, etc. It may be complex, but eventually any moral situation can be boiled down to good or bad.

Impossible, because different people have different standards of morality.

 

[bhsup]

Impossible, because different people have different standards of morality.

Sucks for them, since there is only one true gold standard set by God.

 

[Emperor2]

The way I see it, you stack good vs. bad, and whichever one there is more of, you identify as good or evil. A theoretical (bad word, but the best I can think of) is the example of the political compass. You have the four quadrants, but we'll leave out the political/social line for now. Okay, on the economic line, which looks like this (ignore the dots):

__________________|_____________________
.............................|

You have 2 sides. There are extremes on both sides, yes, but on the whole, each side is regarded as one of two camps: Socialist or Capitalist. It's the same thing with the rest of the world: there are verying degrees, but on the whole, in the final count, when push comes to shove, its one of two camps. Black or White.

 

[Kraznaya]

Sucks for them, since there is only one true gold standard set by God.

And I'm the one who's right about it, while you are absolutely wrong.

 

[Tasslehoff]

The are shades of gray! Here's two:

Spoiler :

 

[lovett]

Sucks for them, since there is only one true gold standard set by God.

BOOM!!#! And thats why your better then all those downright silly moral philosphers like, for example, Hobbes and Hume. Why, they should have left ethics to the priests! Preferably reading from a latin bible!