NorthOfNorth wrote on Aug 2^nd, 2010 at 3:45pm:

My question is: Do you believe it would be moral (would it be morally questionable) for Germany to ask this of Poland? (Not using the "get out of jail free" if you pardon the pun by suggesting only those who it could be proved entered Germany through Poland but any and all).
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Well, if Germany asked all its neighbours, why not?
Asking only Poland and not any of the others would be not about the Gypsies but about 1 September 1939. DIfferent question.

If you are illegally in a country, without ID, it is morally OK for that country to send you packing and deport you anywhere it sees fit PROVIDED that they can do so safely.
They don't know where you are from, so 'far-flung' is relative in these cases.

What is the 'moral lead' in which you imply some countries may be obliged to take interest? What is source of the implied moral requirement on any country to act contrary to its own laws and  - dare I say it? - its own interests?

Walking down an Indian street, am I obliged to give bakhsheesh to every street urchin that asks for it? First 10 only? 100? How much each?

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 9:39am:



As someone said, that is Schopenhauer's view, but I'd say it goes further back than him. In reality, morality is whatever those in power says it is. Morality is a set of social practices that benefits a certain group. Morality is not held in place by any innate moral absolute born inside us, it is invented by the ruling classes of the zeitgeist. Shame, guilt, rewards, punishments, jail, fines, violence, and the threat of violence is how morality is held in place. It has come in so many forms across time and cultures; what seems moral to one culutre, may be deemed as immoral by another. The same with individuals, what is seen as moral by one person may be deemed immoral by another.

Soren wrote on Aug 2^nd, 2010 at 5:38pm:


As a signatory to the Geneva Convention on refugees, we can't send them packing just because they have no paperwork.  If we did, then we'd be in breach of the convention.

- which is fine if we want to be in the block of countries that are not signatory to that convention, however most developed countries, including Canada, the UK and the US are signatories.

In terms of morality, it comes down to the question of - Should we sign an international convention if we intend to breach its conditions? I'd say that it would be immoral to do so.

- and incidentally, Nauru is not a signatory to the convention.

Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Sep 1^st, 2010 at 4:57pm:

Child labour was commonplace then because economic necessity demanded that it must be so, which is not to say that those who are "controlled by those who control the means of production" consider this moral... except perhaps where one is convinced that hard work, like unearned suffering, is necessarily redemptive.

I don't know if morality is a given, but I think that it's almost a given.
Religious teachings, psychological teachings, philosophical teachings.. all the same stuff as far as I can see.

I am shocked with the lack of spirituality of all of you so far. Perhaps this is due to fact that you’ve been trained (I deliberately don’t use word educated) strictly in limited western reason and Aristotle's syllogism, which is something like only 20% of human brain capacity. Maybe this is one of the reasons for so obvious crises of spirituality in western civilization. Fortunately there is eastern philosophy that is primarily based on inspiration and intuition which provides much better connection between our mind and universal spiritual values. Well never is late, maybe this can help you all:
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_68.html

What western civilization critically needs is a new spiritual heart. Cheap substitutes, such as the worship of work, the worship of wealth, the worship of health, the worship of sex, or the worship of your country will not cut it. If western civilization is to survive they’ll need to undergo a pretty radical transformation that involves rejecting all of these inferior forms of modern worship.

Now to help you to find answer on your question I am going to give you a homework.

Let’s start with the lesson 1 - tutorial:

Everyone has to figure out for himself what the morality is.

Imagine that you have an offer of 10 million dollars to kill someone, who you don’t know and who is on the other side of this planet, by simply pressing the certain button on your computer keyboard.
You have been given 100% guarantees that you will remain anonymous , won’t be discovered during your life time.

What is that possibly can prevent you to commit such act?.