Laws And Ethics

[Butters 0]

I believe ____ laws are ethical.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[shropshire 0]

It's unethical to kill.
In some countries it's legal to kill

Therefore, to my mind, not all laws are ethical

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[quade 4]

I'm not really certain the point you're trying to get across.

Do you mean that they are based in "ethics", such as the former laws against homosexuality or are you talking about traffic laws being "unethical" because you feel that nobody should be allowed to tell YOU what to do, let alone a machine like a traffic light?

What's your point?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Butters 0]

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I'm not really certain the point you're trying to get across.

Do you mean that they are based in "ethics", such as the former laws against homosexuality or are you talking about traffic laws being "unethical" because you feel that nobody should be allowed to tell YOU what to do, let alone a machine like a traffic light?

What's your point?

I'm not asking for the amount of laws (that you believe) are based on ethics. I'm asking for the amount of laws (that you believe) are ethical.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[quade 4]

Got it.

In that case I think I gotta go with the majority are. Very few laws -require- that you do something the majority of people would find to be unethical.

The VAST majority of laws simply keep people from hurting one another. If a stop sign isn't "unethical" then it's ethical; no?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[rehmwa 2]

Like Congress passing a "law" to have a holiday, or a "law" to fund types of 'art', or a "law" to make companies produce certain technologies?

Or "laws" against murder, stealing, and selling drugs to grade school kids?

Or "laws" to redistribute income?

I think the way to do this is to categorize all the laws as follows:

1 - based on a moral code (perhaps the 'stated' christian code, etc) stealing, murder, perjury

2 - based on allowing people to be around each other - traffic laws, trespassing, certain civil accommodations

3 - administrivia and social engineering - gun control, welfare, holidays, fiddling against the free market etc

then I'd have to decide which categories are ethically based (1, some of 2) and which aren't (some 2, 3)

divide the first into the total, and if great than 50%, then vote 'most' - or other as appropriate.

therefore, I do not have sufficient information to make an assessment

(I'm assuming that we started out with state laws governing ethical laws, and federal laws dealing with 'basic' governance - but in the last few decades likely most of the laws passed are pointless twiddling type laws - so I don't know if we've cross the break even point or not yet. Perhaps Senator Kerry can introduce a law to rename another government building and push it over.)

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Butters 0]

This thread stems from a post in another thread where someone insinuated that the government is the arbiter regarding ethics, all laws are ethical, and thus all criminals (including Rosa Parks) are unethical. The point is to get the opinion of others regarding ...

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If a stop sign isn't "unethical" then it's ethical; no?

and other laws.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[AWL71 0]

That's a stretch. No one claimed Rosa Parks was unethical. Someone claimed drug laws were unethical and the discussiom went from there.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

[quade 4]

Ok . . . he's crazy . . . and doesn't appear to understand the concept of absolutes.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Butters 0]

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That's a stretch. No one claimed Rosa Parks was unethical. Someone claimed drug laws were unethical and the discussiom went from there.

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"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch