Is there such a thing as an absolute moral standard? If there is, who gets to say what that moral standard is? Who gets to make it up, and where are they getting their information from? If there isn’t one, does that mean that one can do anything, or that one is never held accountable for one’s actions? If not, than by what measurement do we judge a person’s actions and set up the rules necessary for social functioning and living together?
Do we even need to set one up, aside from the arbitrary one of not killing each other for just as long as it takes for us to use each other to survive, or is their something a little bit deeper than that? Is it just hormonal/emotional? If it exists, is it universal? Does being from a different culture give you the right to kill another human being? Are there acts that absolutely everyone must always refrain from all of the time, or is there a time and place for everything?
These musings, some might say are fruitless, are what take up a large amount of my headspace. It is important that you answer all of these questions for yourself, by yourself, with as little outside influence as possible.
The next topic I wanna deal with is genocide. Not just in an abstract way, but concretely about "the" holocaust.
The Jews, after having suffered the fate they did in the hands of Europeans for hundreds of years, and even before that for millennia, finally got a homeland. The final reason was the killing and deporting of millions of them in Europe, in what is known as the Holocaust. That homeland is on a site where at the time very few Jews lived, but many believed was assigned dot them by God, the God of the Bible, Yahweh, the jealous God. To get there, Britain gave them the land, which they did not rightfully own. Many other people, considered even today subhuman by the powers backing the now formed Israeli government, live there, have proof of having lived there for thousands of years, and not religious proof, “God told us about it” sort of proof. After having gotten there, they are now submitting the people of that land to a Holocaust.
I do not believe in the legitimacy of the Israeli government. There are three main reasons for that, all of them having to do with the questions posted above.
1) If you are saying that these people deserve a homeland, and it must be protected at all costs, even if it is causing other people a genocide, then you immediately fall into the category of being a) a racist or b) someone who believes that suffering is measured in scales, like wheat or barley. Both of these things are dumb, unless you can say that the price of the starvation and death of one Jewish child is the equivalent to x amount of Palestinian children, or one for one. In which case Israel should have been abolished, because more then 6 million have died as a result of Israeli occupation since the 50’s.
2) The piece of land in question is sought to be the holy land by a certain understanding of the Bible, which talks about place names that we are not sure where to put on our lands, and in increments that we do not understand, such as the cubit. We know that the Bible is not a legitimate source of geography. We know that it is not a legitimate source for history. We know that basing your claim to a piece of land based on the Bible should not hold ANY weight in ANY international court.
3) Theocracies, including Muslim, Christian, Jainist, or any other sort should be abolished, or at least their existence voted upon. If you do not believe that Israel is a theocracy, than you are an idiot. It is not a democracy, it is not a dictatorship, it is not any sort of state, except one that is made by fundamentalist, Jewish right wing extremists.
To separate the racism and nationalism of any nation because of historical events is near sighted, to claim that Jews cannot behave like Nazis because of the holocaust is just blind. The fact that these people are being protected, and are being given money by the most powerful nation on earth, the USA, and are supported and helped by all the European nations, whom they guilt into helping because of despicable acts commited in the past is absolutely insane. Also, Palestine was a country that was easy to take over, their people, disenfranchised, so their land could be sold. The land the Jews of the Bible are talking about is actually located in Ethiopia. The mountains they are mentioning, most likely are in Ethiopia, or somewhere nearby that land. Some people know this, but are not being taken seriously, also, real Jews, the Jews of the Bible are what we today would consider black people. Jacob, Joseph, and a host of other people are specifically mentioned as being black skinned, and Samson has three strands of hair that cover his entire head, which to me sound like dreadlocks. It is true that anyone can have dreads (I got ‘em), but we only see it being ritually used in African cultures, also, in some nomadic nations who have probably seen it during their travels.
I know, this is a lot of info, and I did not present any evidence for it really, but if you are interested in it, we can discuss. Also, some of these are my personal opinion, and must be evaluated as such, I just hope you can come to conclusions that will make sense for you.
As for me, to answer the first few questions, I do believe that albeit there is no objective moral code, there is something universal and visceral and bestial about ethics. Certain things we have a gut feeling of ‘bad’, or ‘wrong’, and it is present in any culture, such things are murder, rape, genocide, taking more than what one needs, leaving people to starve, etc, etc. That these things happen in every culture is unimportant, because we as humans want bad things to happen, and precisely our gut feelings and visceral reactions are the sort of thing that make us want to do them, to experience ‘bad’ and ‘wrong’. That there are eicts about these things in every culture is all the proof I need. We must reach the lowest common denominator, something we all can agree upon, and make a universal law, a simple one, that applies top everyone. Writing it down and specifying it is of no use, because we need to iinternalize it, and indeed, we already have. I believe all of us work off of the same principles. I believe we all know wrong when we see it. So I guess I do have beliefs.
The next post will contain the grind.
you should do your homework properly and get your facts straight before you write stuff like "if you don't believe fill-in-the-blank you are an idiot" and post it on your blog...
VálaszTörlésas it's somehow embarrassing when a lot of your info in the same post is NOT true!
would you please enlighten me why I'm a) an idiot for not believing what you wrote about Israel being a theocracy and b) why answering any of the questions in your post would be important and for whom plus how you would know that?
"but if you are interested in it, we can discuss"
VálaszTörlésdiscussion = the exchange of opinions, facts, etc.
meaning YOU would have to answer to my questions...
whaddup pabst???
VálaszTörléssorry for the delay, dnt treally check comments, but this one i liked so, answering thesden questiönjs would be important on a personal level, for yourself these questions are things that i personally believe (everything nn this blog is personal) will benefit everyone.
also, the state of israel is founded on, its geographical location lifted form, the old testament. that in and of itself is a theocracy. if you have ever heard or read ariel sharons public musings, you would also knoww that he zhimslef nbelieved it to be a place of great improtance for the jews in fullfilling prophecy, hence, i think caslling it a theocracy is no less legitimate than calling, say saudi arabia, or thwe german-roman empire one as well. so yeah, hope this gets to you, thanks for writing.
hmmm, you already said that you believe answering those questions will benefit everyone but my question was WHY you believe that which you haven't answered yet.
VálaszTörlésare you really trying to tell me that:
- political systems are based on geographical location?
- that what politicians tell the public is what they really think?
why are there elections in Israel if it's a theocracy?
and why is Saudi Arabia ruled by a king if it's a theocracy?
also, as long as you write nonsense like "real Jews, the Jews of the Bible are what we today would consider black people" I just can't take you seriously. being "a Jew" does not say anything about the ethnic background just as being "a Catholic" or "a Muslim".
and on a side note: you wrote "the God of the Bible, Yahweh" which doesn't make really sense as A) there are more deities not only one in the bible and B) none of them is called yahweh!
no matter how many people think that Judaism is a monotheistic religion but the truth is it is NOT!
hello again. well, it is monotheistic, because in the first two or three books of the pentateuch, we do encounter various gods, such as el, and YHWH, there is also a plurality fo gods that is el, but he is believed to be shunned in exodus with the golden calf incident of aaron and moses. there is mention of jacob an disaac being the color of the earth, as opposed to esau who was red. the soil is usually black or similarly colored, especially soil used for cultivating plants. moses is mentioned as having kinky hair.
VálaszTörlésjudaism is monotheistic, although it appreciates the existence of other gods. that is why the first commandment mentions that other gods exist, however, you, as a jew, need to worship only YHWH, or hashem, or whatever you would like to call him.
I most cretainly AM trying to tell you that political systems are based on geographical location, and the understanding of a people of said geographical location. read guns, germs and steel for that one. as for what politicians are thinking, i cannot say, i really doubt they would, but i do not understand how that enters the conversation. because of my mention of arial sharon?? a theocracy just means a land being ruled by a religious sect according to the laws of said religious sect, and appealing to the laws of that religion as the law of the land and the highest council. in the case of israel, just as in the case of saudi arabia, i believe there is little doubt that what we are seeing is indeed a theocracy. the jewish congregation rules the ladn according to judaism, and what bugs me is that the land is arbitrarily singled out not according to geographic/archeological evidence, but based on the laws of the governing ideology of said theocracy, which is the old testament, which is not the clearest source of geographical knowledge, yet we consider them a legitimate state being attacked by arab terrorist barbarians. this view is ridiculous, and yet it is the majority view in america (my main audience as of the flag counter), and also most of western europe. also, the tetragrammaton as met by moses is who i refer to as yahweh, as it is accepted by a large (but not all) number of jews.
as for answering those questions, that, again, is purely personal. it is my belief that meandering and musing on them will indeed benefit one. i have no evidence and no facts to back it up, its purely just sentimental, personal belief.