May 11, 2004
Opinion:
Another question
By Jack GrantWell, I'm still writing my long essay on the furor surrounding the apparent abuse of prisoners in Iraq. I do have another question, though. I've heard plenty of folks I'll refer to as "apologists" who say "Well, what Saddam Hussein did was far worse", and "The Arab governments are being hypocritical because they routinely torture people", and finally "They can drag our people through the streets and burn their bodies and we have to adhere to a higher standard" (an almost direct quote of one of the relatives of one of the accused soldiers).
My question boils down to this: Is morality relative or absolute?
Are we "right" because we are less vicious than those we fight, or are we "right" because we adhere to an absolute morality that does not depend upon the actions of others to determine what we say is right and wrong?
Answer in the comments or by email.
Posted by Jack Grant at 19:14 on 11 May 2004Yes, we are right on both counts generally speaking but the increasing acceptance of moral relativity is weakening the US.
Torture is wrong. Decent people don't torture anybody or anything. A possible exception may be when torture can save other innocent lives - even then, decent people don't enjoy torturing anyone or anything.
The fact that person A did something wrong doesn't make it okay for person B to do it. That also means that any criticism/punishment leveled at person B must be leveled at person A as well.
If you weren't indignant at person A's transgression - if you didn't go all out for justice then, you've lost a moral right to go after person B.
turn about is fair play; what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. All those good old fashioned cliches.
For (almost) any representative of a middle-eastern government to pretend outrage is laughable.
Posted by: Persnickety at May 11, 2004 08:17 PM
