NihilusZero
Posts: 4036
Joined: 9/10/2008 From: Nashville, TN Status: offline
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It's something I've considered for a long time. It is essentially a question of where we begin the foundations of any logical system of ethics and how large we draw the circle. I've concluded that the only worthwhile parameter is drawing the line at direct, harmful, physical actions upon a non-consenting party or that party's property. And that's about it. I'm very wary about any concept of emotional or psychological harm. Anything related to that is, primarily, an error in the beholder. To allow leeway for what offends one person, or even a majority, is to make an argument against something that offends anyone...and that's not an acceptable, honorable path (and by honorable, I mean non-hypocritical). Now, where people choose to draw their own lines is an entirely different topic. Some people are willing to curb parts of themselves if it might, let's say, cost them their job. Others maybe need no more than a social majority vote to decide they should censor parts of themselves. Others decide it is the moral short-sightedness of kin that makes self-restriction (and lying about it directly or by omission) acceptable, because we wouldn't want to harm someone important to us (nevermind the fact that the harm begins in the faulty mindset of the person(s) we are emotionally assuaging). To that extent, though, there is no necessary demand that we be honest trumpeters of ourselves to anyone. Not even ourselves. Heck, we can engage in things that we, deep down inside, would still consider shameful so long as we are able to hide it from others' eyes. Despite the fact that, historically, every major civil rights movement was begun at the hands of someone who felt they didn't need to have their personas restricted by moral presumption, I don't suggest everyone must make themselves a martyr for human freedom...but don't let me catch the same people then insulting those who do try to open the half-closed eyes of an ethically repressed populace, calling them superficial attention whores without so much as a cursory clue as to whether their assessments are based more in reality than in knee-jerk bias. Don't let me suffer those who are too afraid to openly be (with everyone) who they are when they decide to suddenly condemn those who aren't and do not feel guilt-tripped into being so. I just don't see how anyone who would espouse views that make even an indirect suggestion that what any of us do isn't fit for "public eyes" can genuinely feel comfortable with such a part of themselves if they hold it to be such a disgrace that it should not be made an open topic to the public or even children.
< Message edited by NihilusZero -- 11/9/2009 3:24:53 AM >
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"I know it's all a game I know they're all insane I know it's all in vain I know that I'm to blame." ~Siouxsie & the Banshees NihilusZero.com CM Sex God du Jour CM Hall Monitor
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