Moral equivalence 101
June 23, 2004
James Joyner links to a post examining the moral equivalence of beheadings and stonings with that of the use of Old Sparky, a fiendishly inept electric chair. He then concludes:
Our enemies are barbarians. Their value system is stuck in the 7th Century and they are willing to use any means necessary to impose the values of that age on the modern world. Likely, future generations of Americans will look back on us and judge many of our current practices to be barbaric. That’s because we live in a society that constantly reassesses its belief systems and adjusts its actions accordingly. I don’t feel particularly uncouth in preferring our system over that of the Islamists.
It reminds me of what a friend scoffed about in less than tactful terms than I will write now: that the cultural ethos of Islam in general doesn’t exactly leave room for introspection. From what I gather about the practice of Islam, or at least its value system that is “stuck in the 7th Century,” is that the religion itself is perfect, it’s just its followers keep on making mistakes so they have to be punished. It’s a pretty sad situation for a religion and a societal template to attain such levels of hubris that it insulates itself from examination and introspection.
4 Comments to Moral equivalence 101
Comments to this entry are closed. You can contact me by email, or you can write about it on your blog and link to this post. Pingbacks are always welcome.
It’s a pretty sad situation for a religion and a societal template to attain such levels of hubris that it insulates itself from examination and introspection.
Sort of like the fundalmentalist Christian right, right?
Yes, let’s play this game, right?
The fundalmentalist Christian right, that drags homosexuals by the ankles across the streets of Wyoming, right?
The fundalmentalist Christian right, that beheads non-Christians as instructed in their holy book, right?
The fundalmentalist Christian right, that beats women into submission and prevents them from going to work, right?
That fundalmentalist Christian right that now has overtaken the government and now decides public policy and law through the edicts of pastors across that country?
Is that the fundalmentalist Christian right that you’re talking about? Because I don’t see it happening. I give even evangelical Christians a big heap of good faith and props because despite some of their paleolithic beliefs they don’t normally and “culturally” engage in the kind of things certain Islamists engage in.
Christians who do engage in the same sort of behavior as the Muslim fanatics do are Christians in name only. Note the Catholic/Protestant conflict in N. Ireland, or the Phalangists in Lebanon who were defeated by their own militancy. For the most part, most Christians learn from the mistakes of their history. Islam can’t seem to say the same for theirs.