Society

Lets call it Blog4 now. I tried, I really tried to solve yesterday's murder mystery. But, it just wasn't in me. Today's Blog5  topic is much more doable for me:

Many socially accepted practices throughout history have become considered morally corrupt. One of the most notorious examples of this on a grand scale is slavery. Today not only is slavery regarded wrong for our modern society, but society in history is judged as failing morality.

Option A: Describe a less well-known example of this. How do you think society taught itself to accept it? Did everyone find it acceptable?

Option B: What practices in the modern world do you think will be considered as obviously immoral in the future and why.

My tea bag this morning quoted Socrates,  "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." How fitting for the theme of the day.  It makes me think about the Judeo-Christian theory of Original Sin and eating of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. As a cradle-raised Catholic and recent godparent, Original Sin has been on my mind lately. In the way I have always interpreted the story of Original Sin, Adam and Eve were happy and stupid in Eden until they ate from that fruit and their eyes were opened. Suddenly, they had consciousness and awareness of good and evil. Once you know right from wrong, life is never easy again, deciding what is right is a laborious task. 

Socrates seems to think knowledge in itself is good, and lack of knowledge, ignorance, is evil. Was this Greek influenced by the ancient Hebrew story? Western Civ 101 was too long ago for me to remember that, but I tend to think the Bible story is telling us that ignorance is innocent. With knowledge comes responsibility.

One thing I do believe is that ignorance can breed evil. There are thousands of examples of that in history. Our ancestors accepted as normal things that make even the most callous modern people cringe. The treatment of the mentally ill; living conditions in ghettos of the past; leaving the sick, lame, old and disabled out to die; institutionalized marginalization of whole groups of people; martial law and capital punishment without trial; the huge gap between the rich and poor, are just a few examples. I could go on and on.  Perhaps the allegory of Adam and Eve and innocence lost describes a process human society is continually experiencing. Our eyes are slowly and constantly opening to what is good and right.

As a society, we have come a long way in increasing our knowledge. We understand that mental illness is a disease and the root causes of poverty. Overall, in this society, I believe we are closer to being moral and good. Although most minority groups are still marginalized to some degree, I think society as a whole agrees that is immoral. Our universal ideal is a society in which all are equal. With one glaring exception.

Right now there is one group that certain pockets of society find it perfectly acceptable to discriminate against, abuse and exclude. That group is gays and lesbians. I believe one day, we will look back at discrimination towards gays the way we do treatment of infidels during the inquisition, or gypsies in Europe or African Americans in the Jim Crow days. People will grow in their knowledge. We as a society will learn to understand and as our eyes slowly open we will see the evil of discriminating against someone who is different for any reason. We will allow all people, including gays and lesbians, equal rights because we know that is right.

Comments

[Eileen]

Wow, deep! I think the thing that will most weigh on the minds of our descendants as they look back on the way we lived is how we allowed the destruction of our natural environment. After all, the results of OUR destruction will be a part of their daily lives. They will look back on us and shake their heads saying, "they knew, they knew how wrong it was and they let it happen".

[Joie]

Good point. We all know exactly what to do, but it would make us less comfortable or inconvenience us to do the right thing. It all seems so overwhelming to completely change my lifestyle so as not to harm the environment. And then, I feel so helpless and insignificant. How can teeny little me make a difference in the grand scheme of things? Its hard.

[Cate]

You can really write. I mean REALLY write! Wow!

[Joie]

(blushing) Thanks, Cate!

[Ragged Around The Edges]

OK< so I am so jealous. Very insightful and deep. Good job!

[girl]

I went from living in amish-land PA, while going to college, to performing at Disney, the Gay capital of the world. I can remember my college days, being afraid of what I did not know...I am sad to admit that. After five years of living with draq queens and closet-hetero's I moved to Boston. This past year, we Bostonians have been right on the forefront of progression...with that we have witnessed the evil that is hatred posing as God-speak. As a Christian, it breaks my heart to see the hatred and lack of acceptance that is so prevalent even today.

Thank you for writing this. May it someday be true.

--girl

ps - sadly, I worked tirelessly to finish my entry before leaving work yesterday, and then I forgot to submit it...but it is there, if you are interested :)