Jasede said:I do not believe they are calling for a nazi utopia. I know for one that LS values genius far too much for that.
Jasede said:I do not believe they are calling for a nazi utopia. I know for one that LS values genius far too much for that.
I long for a society were people are judged by what they do, not who they are. I do not believe in hedonism, but I do believe that privacy is a sacred thing.
I have always believed in granting individuals as much freedom as needed and as little as possible. I see no harm in deviancy if it does not affect your performance. The danger lies in deviants that impact society negatively. I believe sexual matters are far too "open" these days. But then again, I might just be pseudo-nostalgic. Pseudo because I'm not old enough to really be nostalgic.
Do colour me naive - I am, God knows I am! - but I don't think it's anyone's goal to have a society like that. I think what LS and Cleve want is to fight what LS often seems to relate with "matriarchy" - that is, the effiminization of society and a return to more traditional moral values. I always assumed they would move to a society like that without extreme measures or bloodshed - after all, in their theory, the deviancies should be reduced on their own once the population has reached a "healthy" moral level again, with patriarchical and traditional family values.
Surely mankind has developed far enough not to return to the barbarism of the 3rd Reich?
You are quite right, you are what you do. I phrased poorly. "I'd like it if people were judged on their acts, and not on the attributes you give to the category they may fit into.".
Your second point - well. In Germany at least, sexuality is incredibly free. There's no more perceived immorality in sex before marriage, for example [I write this neutrally, as an observation]. Not as bad as what I heard from America though - but not being American I am in no position to judge; though I did hear adventurous tales of teenagers giving each other blow jobs in the halls of public schools. Also, I do think there's too much hedonism associated with sex these days - what should be something I naively call marvelous has become something done mostly for pleasure, with little to no meaning attached - very unsatisfying. Again, that is just from what I have learned from my surroundings [liberal university]. I think the puritan values you mention are something US-specific, and rooted in, well, the history of the US, re-emergent.
Your fourth... well. I wish it weren't so; but I do think that one day, we might evolve to be clever enough to stop killing each other.
Jasede said:I long for a society were people are judged by what they do, not who they are. I do not believe in hedonism, but I do believe that privacy is a sacred thing.
Jasede said:What -is- the trouble with a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" society? It is nobody's business what someone does in his bedroom, or with who. Unless his actions cause a detriment to society. I do believe this to be the case with some extreme homosexuals - pride parades and the like meet my disdain. Sexual orientation is a part of you, but nothing to be proud of. Being one way or another doesn't make you special - what you do and who you are, that is what counts.
Jasede said:I have always believed in granting individuals as much freedom as needed and as little as possible. I see no harm in deviancy if it does not affect your performance. The danger lies in deviants that impact society negatively. I believe sexual matters are far too "open" these days. But then again, I might just be pseudo-nostalgic. Pseudo because I'm not old enough to really be nostalgic.
Jasede said:Do colour me naive - I am, God knows I am! - but I don't think it's anyone's goal to have a society like that. I think what LS and Cleve want is to fight what LS often seems to relate with "matriarchy" - that is, the effiminization of society and a return to more traditional moral values. I always assumed they would move to a society like that without extreme measures or bloodshed - after all, in their theory, the deviancies should be reduced on their own once the population has reached a "healthy" moral level again, with patriarchical and traditional family values. Surely mankind has developed far enough not to return to the barbarism of the 3rd Reich?
Jasede said:I found it: Last Rose in a Desert Garden.
http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/?page_id=11
Jasede said:It's self-destructive of me to agree; maybe I cling to the thought that in a better world you seem to envision, there'd be a place for me as long as I keep to myself and am reasonably productive.
Jasede said:Do correct me if I misunderstand, LS, Cleve.
...and so instead, I will say this one thing, one word even, which applies in equal measure to many, if not all of your posts --Cleveland Mark Blakemore said:Yet America for the prior 150 years was reknowned throughout the globe for the virtue, honesty and moral discipline and restraint of it's inhabitants.
...
This is the same nation which was once fabled to have the grandest public education system in the history of mankind and the most intelligent, well informed and literate population ever.
Higher Game said:I disagree with much of Our Civilization, though. Instead of a fear of pleasure, I think that men enjoy pleasure (active) while women prefer safety and comfort (passive). Hedonism usually applies to taking comfort too far, not pleasure.
Cleveland Mark Blakemore said:As a former atheist, I have to say the ones that shock me the most are the atheists. They, more than any others, should recognize the lawlessness of a universe without a God. But they don't. They stink at atheism, too. They just plain stink at thinking, period. All of them are alike in feeling sort of warm and fuzzy and secure no matter what happens. Sort of like a newborn kitten nuzzling against her mother's breast with her littermates, believing the whole cosmos is like this, an eternal warm secure place, right before the owner pushes her into a burlap bag and throws her into a river as surplus.