An over-generalization regarding society and ethics.

[Fire Walk With Me]

I once had a book of Lakota Sioux mythology...the ethics were amazing, the standards of ethical living, extremely high. People were taught and thus expected to know the right thing to do, and were sometimes sent away if they failed to live up to their own knowledge of right and wrong, so great was the dichotomy between such selfish behaviour and the needs of a(ny) small group of people. I do not know if the actual Lakota lived these ideals, much as one, reading the Christian Bible, might mistakenly conclude that all exposed to it would live lives at such similar ethical levels.

America (generalization approaching, gaining steam, duck and cover) has to an extent, decayed into a state of selfishness and justification of selfish acts and intent. This also leads the guilty to lash out at anyone who gets caught. Such fear of discovery and greater-than-average punishment leads to even greater silence regarding what is right and what the standards should be...and that we should be expected to live up to them.

Look at how we slash celebrities for being...just like us. Because it's easy, and unless extreme, without personal consequence. They're shooting gallery ducks. Ah, the lack of personal consequence, increasing the boldness of the individual...and the odd expectation of celebrity to attain some sort of angelic, saintly lifestyle of which we can all approve, but individually, perhaps never mimic. So long as someone is doing it.

We generally know what the right thing is. We have been infantilized to a large degree. Of course, there are always those who must have laws to constrain their behaviours, but let them be the anomaly, not the baseline.

[Kalyke]

1. Hmmm.... I don't cheat on my spouse, so, no Tiger Woods, Gov. Sanford,

Ensign, et al are not just like me.

I also don't live an angelic, saintly lifestyle, but I certainly do respect my spouse, our vows and our children's lives.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. As do many, many of us.

However, any of us placed in, say, Tiger Wood's position, may have reason to pause. Remember that this also happened to our Bill Clinton. We need to keep understanding and forgiveness at the top of our "to do" lists.

[elocs]

2. I made an eye opening discovery concerning Native American justice,

at least in my area of the country in the early 19th century. Here near La Crosse, Wisconsin there was a leader/chief who was upset about some of his tribe that were killed up in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) so he killed some settlers near here. That they were not the guilty parties was immaterial to his sense of justice. I don't know how widespread this was but it would explain a lot about Native American justice that conflicts and is incomprehensible to the European sense of justice that it is the guilty who must pay for the crimes committed.

[Hissyspit]

3. Um...

Europeans only killed Native Americans or other Europeans they thought were the guilty parties? Ever?

Tribal law varied across a continent. One chief could be a vengeful asshole, just like Europeans.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Well, my generalization asks for generalizations in return

:rofl:

[Hissyspit]

6. That did

occur to me. :)

[Echo In Light]

7. A fantastic, early read on this: One Dimensional Man, 1964, by Herbert Marcuse

http://igw.tuwien.ac.at/christian/marcuse/odm.html

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Bookmarking for later reading.

I love L.E.Modessit Jr.'s science fiction for its highly ethical approach and examinations. You might enjoy Haze...

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. It is important to remember that in an environment of the highest ethical standards

that forgiveness and compassion are as necessary as discrimination and judgement. Some faiths require that they be perfectly balanced.

If you wish to judge, you must also be equally willing to forgive.