I think you have to apply the standards of the time

Morality is emphatically not a constant, unchanging thing.

Sexuality: Ancient Greek culture celebrated gay relationships - particularly those between a man and an adolescent boy - as the highest form of love. Christianity, and the rest of society, took a different view. Now we're in a place which says love is love, and to be celebrated; but exploitation of the young - particularly in a sexual context - is one of the worst things there is. Which personally I think is about spot on - but then I would, because I'm a man of this time, not another time. I'm sure a me even a hundred years ago would have had a different view.

Slavery: the concept that it's OK to own another human being as a mere chattel, an object to use, abuse, whatever at your whim, with the same status as a piece of furniture. Disgusting to modern ears. Yet expressly permitted in the Bible - Paul didn't say "masters free your slaves because it's wrong for a human to own another", he said "slaves submit to your masters". And fiercely defended by the Church until they (rightly!) changed their mind. Widely practiced, of course, from time immemorial, more or less everywhere.

Racism: now viewed as disgusting, but for centuries the bedrock of nations. The British Empire was built on what we would now regard as condescending, racist views. The Bible puts the tribe of Israel above all others - in modern language, the Promised Land was ethnically cleansed of non-Israelis. Various Biblical passages were misread to justify the subjugation of black people, until the Church realised this really wasn't very consistent with what Jesus was banging on about (short version: be nice to people). It was also misread to justify banning interracial marriage for a very long time. Indeed the Bible is frequently misread to justify persecution of gay people today.

Anti-Semitism: yes we fought Hitler, but not because he was anti-Semitic or killed a lot of Jews. England, like many other places, was itself pretty anti-Semitic in the 1940s; I'd like to say we are less so now, and we probably are since the Muslims have become the Universal Bogeyman that the Jews once were. I despair about all of this - there are horrible people of all religions and none, but no religion is or should be defined by the horrible people who say they follow it.

Sexism: businesses these days typically appoint you to a position based on whether you are, or aren't, the most suitable person for the job (I'll stop banging on about the Church, which insists you have a willy for certain jobs), and generally we know it's wrong to consider women as less than men, though in practice I think we've a way to go before society is genuinely equal. Of course for most of history, having a willy was the principal prerequisite for being anything other than a doormat.

I could go on (get some drinks in me and I won't shut up - I think this is a fascinating subject).

The point I'm doubtless failing to make is that what we now view as moral and ethically right is very different from what was the case even a few decades ago. It's tempting to put revisionist glasses on and justify or vilify ancient behaviour based on modern standards. But I don't think you can do that. In just a few decades' time, people will be looking back on us and saying, My God, how primitive thinking was back then. We are creatures of our time, which is different from other times.

Far. Too. Many. Words.

Posted By: Old Man, Feb 13, 18:53:18