Is there really a grey line?

ThingfromtheDeep · Post by **ThingfromtheDeep** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 6:22 pm

Does it exist, or has man just created that illusion so it makes him feel good when he does something wrong? And if there is, is it really as thick as we like to believe? Your thoughts, please.

Later...

Foddercat · Post by **Foddercat** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 6:26 pm

Well, yeah. I mean, you can do something wrong, but not be as bad as someone else doing the same thing. Let's say you run over a kid with your car. Did you do it A) By a complete freak accident?, B) Because you were driving to fast and not paying attention?, or C) Because your buddy dared you to do it?

I'd say at least one of those is worse than the others!

Cypress · Post by **Cypress** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:17 pm

I'm still undecided on this one myself... I have heard people say there is only "Black and White", while I heard others say "There is no such thing as black or white, only different shades of gray..." I'm in a bind! it helps me out in no way.

Twist · Post by **Twist** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 10:01 pm

One could as easily question that there were black and white, wondering if they wernt just something we were reading into an infinitely more compicated, and thus gray universe.
Ultimately definitive morals would give us purpose, meaning, and boundreys, which can be said to be just confort food for social harmony.

Foddercat · Post by **Foddercat** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 11:36 pm

Of course there is Black and White.

And it's a pretty fun game at that!

Urban Wild Cat · Post by **Urban Wild Cat** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 11:49 pm

I don't know about the rest of you, but it feels to me that killing someone by accident is a lot worse than killing them on purpose.

Think about it.

Foddercat · Post by **Foddercat** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 12:07 am

Huh?

..........?

Oh I get it.... no I don't.

Are you saying if you knocked a pot off of a balcony by accident and it fell and killed someone, that would be WORSE than purposefully throwing it off the balcony because you WANT to kill someone???

........

You're... kidding right?

Striker · Post by **Striker** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 1:09 am

I tend to believe in shades of grey rather than black and white because I feel that nothing's ever as simple as it appears at first glance. There's always more to it...an extra layer of complexity.

Kendrakirai · Post by **Kendrakirai** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 1:58 am

Actually, things are for the most part, black and white.

It's just that everyone, deep, DEEP down, is a hypocrite. I am, you are, so's your neighbor Bill. Deep down, we all feel that whatever rules apply to everyone else don't apply to us.

Thus why so many people used napster...They'd never actually steal the CDs, but downloading the entire thing in mp3 and burning it to CD, well, that's not really *hurting* anybody, so it's okay. Besides, they'll never come after little me.

The best thing you can do is accept the fact you're a hypocrite, I feel. You'll be less guilt-ridden, you won't have to make excuses to yourself anymore, and it's far less stressful. Just make sure that 'common sense' prevails over hypocracy.

Deep down, we're all selfish. Even the most altruistic person is selfish...They'll say they do things because it feels good to do so. That's a form of selfishness. You're making yourself feel good. Sure you're helping others feel good too, but that's just an excuse you tell yourself.

Maybe I'm just too cynical...naaahhhh.

El SillY · Post by **El SillY** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 2:27 am

I believe in a gray scale where the completely black and the completely white has been removed, nothing is 100% bad and nothing is 100% good IMHO.

Vazagi · Post by **Vazagi** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 3:15 am

Are you saying if you knocked a pot off of a balcony by accident and it fell and killed someone, that would be WORSE than purposefully throwing it off the balcony because you WANT to kill someone???

I agree with this. Someone who accidentally killed another person would be completely unprepared and (most likely) wreaked by guilt, whereas someone who had planed on killing another person has to have a certain amount of emotional padding to even carry it out in life... I depends on the person i guess. Some would probably feel equally bad in both cases, and some would fell no guilt at all, and so on...

Arcaton · Post by **Arcaton** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 10:05 am

Hmmm..I read the post wrong, thinking that what was meant was that deliberate murder wasn't as bad morally as accidental killing.
It's interesting to see the rationalisations used by killers to prove to themselves that their crime was the fault of the victim....esp. those dear ladies who revenge themselves on hubby by murder rather than divorce. I believe that some people could convince themselves of the correctness of ANYTHING they might do. Guess where they will prob. wind up?

Loneheart · Post by **Loneheart** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 1:44 pm

The wisest thing I ever heard said about the line between good and evil was that which way you're facing is more important than which side of the line your on. Sort of like the line between two armies on a battlefield. It might get messy at times, but some people are charging the enemy and some people are running away and leaving their friends to face things alone.

Someone said that there's no such thing as being 100% good or evil (Unless your God, maybe). I agree. This doesn't mean there is a line. There's a difference between a line between good and evil existing and a person on a particular side of the line being all good or all evil.

The way I see it, everyone is a sinner. The trick is to choose the sins God can forgive.

ThingfromtheDeep · Post by **ThingfromtheDeep** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 6:19 pm

It seems to me, gray areas are too easy, yet, black and white seems to harsh and unreal.

Later...

Q99 · Post by **Q99** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 6:59 pm

It really depends on what you mean by 'really'.

Does the universe really orient itself on a good/evil axis? From what I've seen , no. Good and evil is a cultural device used to create a stable society , and it's not universal even amoung humans at that , as other cultures use different axis to determine what's 'right' and 'wrong' , such as the Duty-honor/dishonor axis , and so on.

In my opinion , if you want a really functional axis , you must accept degrees between the two ends of the spectrum otherwise the system is too inflexible and rigid to deal with real situations as well.