Wednesday, October 07, 2009

balance of goodness

Is ignorance a sin? Or is being a narrow minded person a crime?
Bot statements could be answered yes and no, in a way both of them are right and wrong, if people sometimes did not prefer not to know than do something, there would be no child labour in the 21 century, if people opened up their mind there would be no racism. Yet, if everybody was aware of everything and making sure everyone else is aware of it, it would become annoying as well as if everybody opened up their mind and became all so understanding and accepting we could end up living in this perfectly harmonious friendly environment that we would never have the right to be angry and i think all that withheld anger would at some point explode, quite dangerously.
There is no black or white, there is no good or bad, there is no right or wrong, there is only this great big territory of grey that has both good and bad mixed in with some what is right for you in it. I can't understand but it seems to be that way, sometimes we have to do what seems to be right for us even though it is relative. But then everything is relative.
I wonder no accepting other people's opinion falls into which category? Oh no there are no categories!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I think sometimes there is black and white. For example, some things are absolute, like child molestation. I think most modern societies frown upon this act. However, years ago this wasn't the case. Perhaps black and white are dictated by the mores of the particular society and then become absolutes? Although gray is usually the most prevalent color.

CG said...

I do agree with you. I think the problem is in not the actual separation of black and white from the gray mass but about somebody deciding what is what. For such a long time we have allowed other people to decide what is right and what is wrong that not always we can make the decision ourselves. I totally agree any form of abuse, hatred, violence is absolute evil and can not be excused, but when talking about every day things, sometimes a lie can save someone's life, cruel truth help someone find their way. The thing is it is not set in stone. It is shifting. Gray as You pointed out is the most prevalent colour after all.

Richard said...

I think there is right and wrong. There is alot of grey area, but that is because people have muddled things up.

The problem is that most people never grow up. They continue to look at the world as though the eyes of a 6 year old. They never explore beyond the absolutes given as a child.

the problem is that what is right and what is wrong tends to require some evaluation and is not as simple as saying: "Wearing red on Mondays is wrong" (this is made up, as far as I know). The question that needs to be answered is why is it wrong to wear red on Monday? What is the driving principle?

I think it is usually easier to identify things as wrong, than it is to identify things that are right, because we can eaily see if something is not going to work, or is harmful, but to show that something is right or not harmful is harder. For example: "I'm going to put the roast in a pot, cover it and set it on a burner at max for 3 hours. Then dinner will be ready." Erm, no. The roast is going to burn. Period. Easily identified wrong. "I'm going to put the roast in a pot, add two cooks of cooking red wine, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. IN two hours dinner will be ready." Erm ... maybe. I Would have concern about there not being enough liquid fot two hours, but, offhand, I can't tell you if the second recipe is wrong or not.

And, after all that, the real issue insn't about good and evil. It is about justice. Read my summary of Plato's introductory discourse leading into The Republic here. It is the definition of justice I hold to be most accurate.

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