skirtcafe.org

geron wrote:

Dust wrote:...Morality without a firm grounding, however, tends to decay over time. We try to justify our misdeeds, and if we are the arbiters of our own morality, sooner or later we reach a place where nothing is immoral. Even the "organized" churches who have splintered off have started allowing all sorts of things that were once universally condemned in the Christian West.
Morality has to be enforced on some level. If society universally believes in punishment in the afterlife, that is a start. Otherwise, it comes down to laws from the government.

Not exactly. Morality is simply a code of behaviour that operates to improve the survival of the tribe. We have taboos against homicide, theft, rape and whatever because -- unchecked -- they damage our viability and prosperity as a group. We all understand these unwritten rules instinctively. Religions, all of them, harness this understanding: in essence they are systems of social control, and they work by threatening offenders with supernatural sanctions which are unchallengeable (and unverifiable). In modern times, governments have taken over this role: they have codified offences in much more detail and they prescribe real punishments. Nonetheless, people don't generally need a book of rules to know whether they're doing right or wrong -- it's built in to us.

There was an amusing part in the movie Madagascar where a New York cop on horseback was on the radio reporting an escaped zoo animal and what he wanted to get an answer for was the question "can I shoot it?"

People are not really all that good at discerning right from wrong, especially in complex situations. What was "right" yesterday can be "wrong" today. When I was young it was "right" to let children outside to play independently. Today it is "wrong" because we perceive risks and parental responsibilities much more severely.

People generally DO need a "book of rules", is what I'm saying, but those rules will be most understandable and likely to gain wide assent if they also seem intuitive. If you want to convince me that stealing is wrong then asking me to imagine being stolen from is going to help.

Hardest of all, I think, is collective morality for collective acts. We collectively pump CO2 into the atmosphere, for example, and it has bad effects. Does that mean that I, an individual, am "wrong" if I drive my car, or light a candle when I meditate? At some point in time the very concept of morality may become non-serviceable as a way of usefully governing human affairs. (Don't ask me what the name of its replacement, if any, might be.)

Central high school in Chattanooga painted over all of the mirrors in the bath rooms.

Why you might ask, it seems that there were too many of the high school students being late for class. So the administration in it's wisdom and knowledge had all of the bathroom mirrors painted over to stop the tardiness.

But after the students and their parents went ballistic they have relented and repaired the mirrors.

Just another reason to not like Tenn.

Fred in Skirts wrote:Central high school in Chattanooga painted over all of the mirrors in the bath rooms.

Why you might ask, it seems that there were too many of the high school students being late for class. So the administration in it's wisdom and knowledge had all of the bathroom mirrors painted over to stop the tardiness.

But after the students and their parents went ballistic they have relented and repaired the mirrors.

Just another reason to not like Tenn.

Well now how are they ever going to summon bloody Mary??

moonshadow wrote:Well now how are they ever going to summon bloody Mary??

By asking the bartender, by chance? {dives for cover}

Good one CR!

Meanwhile.... elsewhere in Tennessee....

Click for story

....

Yeah....



Can't nobody talk smack about West Virginia now....

I’m outside of Atlanta. A guy up the road from me was arrested last year for ******* his goat in view of his neighbor. Back when I lived in Miami, a coworker once told me how (people) he knew in Cuba would wear knee high rain boots, take the goat to the edge of the cliff, put the goats rear legs in the rain boots, and bang the goat on the edge of the cliff. The goat being scared of falling off the cliff would always push back, increasing the weirdo’s pleasure. The boots kept the goat from running away. I remember the guy telling me the story was reeeally into it and got very animated & excited.

Did the tree file a complaint?

Jetblasted wrote: a coworker once told me how (people) he knew in Cuba would wear knee high rain boots,... etc

I've heard a similar story which involved a sheep; with a Welshman advocating the use of wellies and a Yorkshireman advocating trapping the animal's back legs in a fence.  The Welshman's astonished response was "What! No kissing?".

Jetblasted wrote:when I lived in Miami, a coworker once told me...

Is that something similar involving cows?

pelmut wrote:

Jetblasted wrote:when I lived in Miami, a coworker once told me...

Is that something similar involving cows?

It depends upon where you put the hyphen.

I believe the local hardware store sells velcro gloves for engaging in such activities with sheep.

Freedomforall wrote:I believe the local hardware store sells velcro gloves for engaging in such activities with sheep.

I'll betcha Jeff Amyx would be happy to hook a brotha up...

I'm sure he's porked a little livestock in his day... !

moonshadow wrote:

Freedomforall wrote:I believe the local hardware store sells velcro gloves for engaging in such activities with sheep.

I'll betcha Jeff Amyx would be happy to hook a brotha up...

I'm sure he's porked a little livestock in his day... !

Hey moon,

Do you like using DuckDuck? I have never seen it until tonight. I like the idea of being private.

Freedomforall wrote:

moonshadow wrote:
I'll betcha Jeff Amyx would be happy to hook a brotha up...

I'm sure he's porked a little livestock in his day... !

Hey moon,

Do you like using DuckDuck? I have never seen it until tonight. I like the idea of being private.

I'm not Moon, but I've got DuckDuckGo set as my default search engine wherever I can.