For as long as there have been humans on earth, there have been social norms within our communities. There has been a sense in all types and sizes of societies of what to do, and what not to do. These do’s and don’ts may change drastically depending on what part, of what region, in which country, in which continent you are on. Even more so, what is and isn’t acceptable depends on who is there to witness you. Morality is a man-made concept. We don’t get to choose where we’re born, and we don’t get real control of our lives until we have grown enough, and thus hopefully, learned enough to be able to make the informed, or thought out decisions for ourselves to better our situations or circumstances.
Of course, living up to the societal norms we are often subjected to, often means everyone has to choose not act on certain desires, ambitions, and other kinds of thoughts, lest they wish to potentially face repercussions for their actions. Because our desire to better ourselves can affect people around us in someway, and our primary way of living is within a society, we have to know how to live and operate in our given societies in a way that we can benefit us with minimal risk of retaliation from others. In order for people to get along with each other, we have our own shared understanding of how to treat one another, how to act with one another, what we should find precious, and what we should see as repulsive. I will tackle here, just a few controversial subjects I sometimes ponder myself living in a developed nation.
Religion
Religion has long been a sort of guideline to how people should act and live amongst one another, and how to interact with the world in general. Religion often gives a story of how the world came to be today, and how it should be. Christianity, for example, has The Ten commandments, a list of 10 rules to follow for the entirety of one’s life, in order to remain holy in the lord’s eyes. Thou’ shalt not kill, Thou’ shalt not steal, Thou’ shalt not commit adultery, and so on. However, there are a large number of people who consider themselves Christian, yet they do not always follow these commandments and often break them. They commit adultery, they murder people, they do not regularly attend church or engage in religious ceremonies, yet consider themselves devout Christians. Even though people involve themselves in religion, they do not always agree with or follow it’s ethics rules and expectations.
On top of that, there are people who don’t believe in, or wish to have anything to do with any religion at all. Some of them only see religion as a form of control at best, and an excuse for unjust acts at worst. More so in the past, Americans have accepted anything that is enacted in “the will of god”. If a call to action can be construed in a way that seems just in some degrees, and especially if it allows a sizeable number of the population to react how they secretly wish to, and removes remorse by giving some divine permission, it will likely succeed in it’s justification by most of the population. Notable examples that spring to mind are the Salem Witch Trials, and the more recent, Holocaust.
Government
The people’s trust in their government is paramount to run a democratic society. The United States proposes and decides rather or not to sign “bills” into law. These laws have to be congruent with the nation’s constitution, and generally considered just in order to be accepted by it’s citizens as beneficial to it’s citizenry, free of illegality, and enacted with the general purpose of maintaining a positive standard of life for it’s nation, and behaving justly in it’s relations to the rest of the world. In theory, since the government operates in this manner, with these rules, it’s ethics should be trusted, and it’s members should be accordingly cooperated with by all of it’s citizens in the effort to uphold democracy. The problem is, Americans do not necessarily trust it’s government’s decisions and often disagrees with some of it’s acts. There is mass corruption present throughout it’s political system, and it’s enforcement of law. There have been civil wars, and public outrage and unrest for many a number of occurrences. People’s trust in government has been and still is becoming increasingly limited, as there are many instances where it has gone against it’s lawful conditions, and obligations, as well as the interests of it’s citizens.
People still debate today rather or not 9/11 was a terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda. Many Americans today have such an ingrained opinion on the subject that they consider it unpatriotic to imagine the US government is actually responsible for the attacks. This perspective baffles me when I know full well that the US government has the motive to, and is certainly capable of staging a false attack in it’s nation, and blaming it’s opposition in order to increase public support for retaliation. Operation Northwoods was an operation proposed by the CIA that detailed plans to stage and commit acts of terrorism against American military and civilian targets. The purpose of this was to blame the Cuban government, so that the US could justify a war on Cuba. The plans included blowing up both US military and civilian ships, performing terrorist attacks in US cities, as well as hijacking and shooting down planes. This operation was denied by then US president, John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy himself, was also outspoken about the threat of secret societies within his government. He gave a speech on the very subject on 27th April 1961, two and a half years before his assassination. You can find more information on WakeUpWorld. It is information like this that sows doubt amongst everyone of the ethics of our government, and how far we should trust and rely on it. It is debatable rather our government is good or bad.
Sex
Premarital sex is frowned upon in religion, though it’s no secret that people involved with religion, often ignore this like those who are not of faith. Premarital sex, in the not so distant past, was even more so considered taboo in the eye of the general public even in the US. This did not discourage it’s frequency. People like to have sex, and they don’t always want to wait for, or require being married to do so. People like having sex with people they shouldn’t, sometimes with or without consent. Sexual assault is, for the most part, universally considered immoral regardless of the genders of the perpetrators and victims.
Although, there is a common and obvious double standard when women rape men. Most people may find it challenging to imagine a scenario where a woman sexually assaults a man, and consider that assault to be offensive enough to warrant the same repercussions. The reason for this may be, and not limited to beliefs that men are stronger than women, and can fend off a woman easily, men would welcome some quick sex from a woman, not resist it, men commiting sexual assault is more common, and thus somehow more of a problem, and that a woman raping a man cannot easily happen, as a man has to be in the mood and erect for a woman to rape him.
Not only can a woman drug a man to end his ability to give consent, she can sodomize him, grope him, and commit other sex acts against his will without him being aroused or being penetrated by him. Female rapper, Cardi B has come under some so so public scrutiny for being open about robbing intoxicated men. Although she has stated she did not drug or rob anyone, people believed, and some still believe, that she did drug and rape various men while working as a stripper, and there are mixed opinions about it. People have mentioned how it is a double standard that she is not undergoing any court procedures, or even receiving enough public backlash for admitting to commiting sexual assault, when there are male celebrities such as Bill Cosby, who are facing these consequences for commiting the same crime rather they admit it or not.
Pedophilia
There is also the possibility one is not at, or above the age of consent of the region where the sex act takes place. The norm is that it is unacceptable to engage in sexual acts with anyone under the age of consent, and those who live in countries with a higher age of consent often see having sex with a legal minor as immoral, not matter the situation, even if the person is not considered a minor in the eyes of law in a country with a lower age of consent. They likewise will often scoff at the higher age of consent in other countries, finding it ridiculous, unnecessary, and sometimes oppressive to what people regard as the right to have sex. Then some people think it is fine to have sex with children as long as they give their consent to it, regardless of if that consent is legally recognized or not. They often decide for themselves what “old enough” is.
The legal age of consent differs between countries. In the US it is generally 18 years or age, save for similar age group exceptions for young adults, and one or two year differences between states. In Canada, the age of consent is 16 years of age. In Poland, it is 15. In Japan it is 14 years of age. In Nigeria, it is as low as 11 years. On the other hand, In Bahrain, it is 21 years. There was a case in Florida where a woman by the name of Denise Harvey had sex with her son’s 16 year old friend. In Florida, it is illegal for anyone over the age of 24 to have sex with someone 16 or younger. Because of this, she was facing 30 years in federal prison. She had instead fled north to Canada to seek Asylum. The Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board accepted request, and she was given right to apply for Canadian citizenship.
Exceptions
Going against community values is sometimes considered acceptable, or justified depending on certain circumstances. There can be uprisings where rioting and violence takes place when the community values and enjoys peace and structure, typically when something that is considered too unacceptable has occurred, and the people of those communities take action.
If someone is trying to kill you, there are self defense laws in the United States, and likely many other countries that support your right to defend yourself with deadly force if necessary. You will not be charged in a court of law for even murder if it is ruled that you have acted in self defense. In some countries, though, say South Korea, the reality is surprising. There is an established law of self defense, but it is not so easy to be able to claim that right in the country without repercussions for your actions. Say you got into a fight with someone. Even if you both injure one another, law enforcement is more likely than not to press assault charges on the both of you, never mind how the fight began or how badly each person is hurt. This urges you to settle the situation and drop all allegations. In case someone tried to kill you, and you to defended yourself, killing them instead, you most likely will get prosecuted for it in South Korea. This is another example of how societies morals can differ widely. You can read more about self defense on Wikipedia
I will paraphrase that when the US constitution was written, it was mentioned that the people have a responsibility to disassemble the government if it no longer worked for it’s people, or acted in ways that were against the common good. The 1954–1968 Civil Rights Movement is an example of citizens fighting against the then societal norms of the United States. Towards the end of this movement, and for a couple decades afterward, we saw the rise of the Black Panther Party, a black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale, and Huey P Newton. The Black Panther Party posed a direct challenge to the rampant police brutality in core US cities within the country, and enacted social programs such as free breakfast for children which was a solution to food injustice. The party even managed to extend globally, having chapters in Britain and Algeria.
The Mulford act of California was signed into law in 1967 by then governor, Ronald Reagan. This was in retaliation to members of the Black Panther Party. The bill for this law had repealed a prior law allowing the public carry of loaded firearms, which was taken lawful advantage of by the Black Panther Party as a self-defense measure.
In 1969, then FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover had described the panther party as “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country. He is responsible for developing and supervising an extensive and illegal counterintelligence program, known as COINTELPRO. It entailed surveillance, infiltration, perjury, police harassment and many other tactics with the sole purpose being to undermine Panther leadership, incrimination, discrimination, and assassination of party members. It did not matter in the eyes of the government that these are US citizens. In the eyes of the oppressed community at the time, the Black Panther Party was an ethical and necessary good cause for change.
Conclusion
I truly believe that it is best to have a “live, and let live” view of life. What is right today can be wrong tomorrow, and vice versa. As a society, we must be able to disregard and tolerate of petty differences of opinion, and realize each person develops their own preferences on how to live their lives. We must respect these preferences to the extent that they do not infringe upon our own. The decision to abort a child is between the mother, and the individuals associated with performing the abortion, and should require exception or permission from government institution. Something like incest, is a matter of willingness to commit the act, proper contraceptive precautions, and the appropriate self awareness of the parties involved. Theft is unacceptable, and should of course be punished within the guidelines of constitutional and basic human rights in consideration, as with all other crimes.
There’s a quote from Thomas Sowell, a Black American economist, a social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, which I believe sums it up best: “Freedom ultimately means the right of other people to do things you do not approve of”. We at WorldOfPoison, must agree.
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