Topic: Forgotten or Ignored Childhood Lessons
IgorFrankensteen's photo
Mon 05/30/16 07:07 AM
When I was very young, my parents (and others) taught me a number of basic guiding ideas.

To my continuing frustration, despite those concepts making great sense, and even despite that most people still claim to believe them, the most basic ones get ignored every day.

Among the most basic, is the idea that if ONE person does something wrong, that doesn't make it okay for ANOTHER person to do something wrong. Right is right all the time, and wrong is wrong all the time, or you're not using the labels correctly at all.

Once people grow up, they seem to let the complexity of the immediate circumstance get in their way of seeing the basic facts.

Whether in dating or in politics (amazingly near unto identical human indulgences), a tremendous number of people will be found saying things like, it's okay to cheat on your partner if they cheated first, or if they didn't do something you thought they promised.

Likewise in politics, an incredible number of people seem to want to think that if they catch the other side in a lie or making a mistake, that it makes it okay that their side lied too, or that their side screwed everything up too.

When we were kids, my parents at least, wouldn't let us get away with that kind of stuff. But for some reason, once people get over the age of about fifteen, they seem to forget.

Punnilingus's photo
Mon 05/30/16 07:10 AM
Right and wrong are relative terms.

Some believe it's wrong to fall in love with a person of the same gender, or to have sex with a person of the same gender; other people believe it is right.

So I don't agree that 'right is right all the time' nor do I believe wrong is wrong all the time.

It all depends on the person.


sparkyae5's photo
Mon 05/30/16 07:30 AM

Right and wrong are relative terms.

Some believe it's wrong to fall in love with a person of the same gender, or to have sex with a person of the same gender; other people believe it is right.

So I don't agree that 'right is right all the time' nor do I believe wrong is wrong all the time.

It all depends on the person.




there is a right or wrong.....there is good and evil...there are people in this

world with values....''healthy values protect us from ourselves and others from

harm''

Conrad_73's photo
Mon 05/30/16 08:06 AM
so,Moral Relativism is quite alright in your opinion?

Right and wrong are relative terms.

Some believe it's wrong to fall in love with a person of the same gender, or to have sex with a person of the same gender; other people believe it is right.

So I don't agree that 'right is right all the time' nor do I believe wrong is wrong all the time.

It all depends on the person.




PeterRobertson's photo
Mon 05/30/16 09:07 AM
I would say that the majority of moral judgements are relative to the exact circumstances. It's not difficult to come up with situations where lying or killing are the morally correct things to do. Even so, some things are clearly absolutely immoral: owning another person (slavery), for example.

IgorFrankensteen's photo
Mon 05/30/16 01:55 PM
Edited by IgorFrankensteen on Mon 05/30/16 01:56 PM

I would say that the majority of moral judgements are relative to the exact circumstances. It's not difficult to come up with situations where lying or killing are the morally correct things to do. Even so, some things are clearly absolutely immoral: owning another person (slavery), for example.


Yes. However, even in a relative way, right or wrong does NOT vary according to who you LIKE. If it does, then you are lying when you claim that it is right or wrong.

Besides, what I'm trying to get at, are the people who use the kiddy excuse "yeah, but SHE did it first!" or just as bad,

"Yeah, but the other guys do it too!"

IgorFrankensteen's photo
Mon 05/30/16 02:02 PM
I am myself particularly frustrated, when politicians are discovered to be corrupt, and instead of condemning them, their supporter point to the fact that some members of the other party were found to be corrupt, and want to use that as a reason to entirely excuse their own side.

And similarly in personal world, when someone is caught cheating on their spouse, and they expect to be allowed to, on the grounds that other people they know have also cheated.




TMommy's photo
Tue 05/31/16 07:30 PM


I would say that the majority of moral judgements are relative to the exact circumstances. It's not difficult to come up with situations where lying or killing are the morally correct things to do. Even so, some things are clearly absolutely immoral: owning another person (slavery), for example.


Yes. However, even in a relative way, right or wrong does NOT vary according to who you LIKE. If it does, then you are lying when you claim that it is right or wrong.

Besides, what I'm trying to get at, are the people who use the kiddy excuse "yeah, but SHE did it first!" or just as bad,

"Yeah, but the other guys do it too!"
think that is more like " all bets are off" or " off with the kid gloves" meaning that as soon as someone shows their true colors, plays dirty then it somehow gives you permission to act the same way

TMommy's photo
Tue 05/31/16 07:32 PM

I am myself particularly frustrated, when politicians are discovered to be corrupt, and instead of condemning them, their supporter point to the fact that some members of the other party were found to be corrupt, and want to use that as a reason to entirely excuse their own side.

And similarly in personal world, when someone is caught cheating on their spouse, and they expect to be allowed to, on the grounds that other people they know have also cheated.




that would be the "loooky mom he did it so it must mean it's alright"

my ma would have said..something along the lines of

it was really too bad that kid has such lousy parents
but in this house you gonna get your hide tanned if ya even try it

IgorFrankensteen's photo
Thu 06/02/16 04:22 AM
Same here.

But for some reason, after people get to be adults, and learn a bunch of big words to use to say that exact same thing, they seem to get away with it.


no photo
Thu 06/02/16 04:52 AM
Forgotten or Ignored Childhood Lessons

I think a lot of the right and wrong lessons we learnt as kids was based on faulty reasoning.
For example; because I say so, or because god says so.

Its not surprising that once you realise the reasoning is lacking validity, you look to other reasoning and as prejudices and our capacities of faulty reasoning guide us. We end up with a mish mash.

My hope is that over time humanity can come up with a universal moral code for us humans that is based on sound reasoning.
Perhaps if we can achieve this our childhood lessons may stick a bit better.

jacktrades's photo
Thu 06/02/16 05:41 AM
Edited by jacktrades on Thu 06/02/16 05:43 AM

When I was very young, my parents (and others) taught me a number of basic guiding ideas.

To my continuing frustration, despite those concepts making great sense, and even despite that most people still claim to believe them, the most basic ones get ignored every day.

Among the most basic, is the idea that if ONE person does something wrong, that doesn't make it okay for ANOTHER person to do something wrong. Right is right all the time, and wrong is wrong all the time, or you're not using the labels correctly at all.

Once people grow up, they seem to let the complexity of the immediate circumstance get in their way of seeing the basic facts.

Whether in dating or in politics (amazingly near unto identical human indulgences), a tremendous number of people will be found saying things like, it's okay to cheat on your partner if they cheated first, or if they didn't do something you thought they promised.

Likewise in politics, an incredible number of people seem to want to think that if they catch the other side in a lie or making a mistake, that it makes it okay that their side lied too, or that their side screwed everything up too.

When we were kids, my parents at least, wouldn't let us get away with that kind of stuff. But for some reason, once people get over the age of about fifteen, they seem to forget.
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I agree with your statement and I am guilty of this also,and when I have screwed up in life I remember what they taught me looked in the mirror and told myself you deserve it, I thought I was above it but they where right.Sometimes in life you forget the fire is actually hot until you burn your hand...lessons learned again..