![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firecat[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a href:"https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-country-survey-americans-especially-likely-to-view-fellow-citizens-as-morally-bad/">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]
<a href:"https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-country-survey-americans-especially-likely-to-view-fellow-citizens-as-morally-bad/">”In 25-Country Survey, Americans Especially Likely To View Fellow Citizens as Morally Bad”</a> by several authors
The details about which countries line up where on the individual issues that Pew chose to use in its survey is interesting, but what really strikes me about this article is the list of issues itself.
<ul><li>Married ppl having an affair
<li>Using marijuana
<li>Viewing pornography
<li>Gambling
<li>Having an abortion
<li>Homosexuality
<li>Drinking alcohol
<li>Getting a divorce
<li>Using contraceptives </ul>
How did they come up with this silly list and what does it have with morality? At first I thought it was based in monotheistic religions, but there’s only one overlap with the Ten Commandments and I don’t remember anything about most of those in the New Testament either. (I don’t know much about the others.) All of the things in this list are either completely morally acceptable (contraceptives, being gay) or are unacceptable only insofar as they often lead to harming others (alcohol). Whereas murdering, stealing, and telling lies about other people should be in any list of potentially immoral behaviors. Because “does it cause lasting harm to others” is the most important determinant of what’s moral and immoral. At least that’s how it looks from here.
/soapbox
How does the concept of morality fit into your life?
The details about which countries line up where on the individual issues that Pew chose to use in its survey is interesting, but what really strikes me about this article is the list of issues itself.
<ul><li>Married ppl having an affair
<li>Using marijuana
<li>Viewing pornography
<li>Gambling
<li>Having an abortion
<li>Homosexuality
<li>Drinking alcohol
<li>Getting a divorce
<li>Using contraceptives </ul>
How did they come up with this silly list and what does it have with morality? At first I thought it was based in monotheistic religions, but there’s only one overlap with the Ten Commandments and I don’t remember anything about most of those in the New Testament either. (I don’t know much about the others.) All of the things in this list are either completely morally acceptable (contraceptives, being gay) or are unacceptable only insofar as they often lead to harming others (alcohol). Whereas murdering, stealing, and telling lies about other people should be in any list of potentially immoral behaviors. Because “does it cause lasting harm to others” is the most important determinant of what’s moral and immoral. At least that’s how it looks from here.
/soapbox
How does the concept of morality fit into your life?
no subject
Date: 10 Mar 2026 02:35 pm (UTC)Been thinking some about that as I argue with my parents about Minneapolis.
1) I want some conscious moral/ethical guidelines to tell me what to do, so I'm not acting on instinct / old programming and doing things that it turns out I don't like very much.
2) The world is a complicated place requiring a great many judgement calls; I can't possibly lay down rules for every situation, and having inflexible rules will get me in more trouble than having no rules at all.
3) Therefore, I need some simple principles that I can generally stick to.
I've ended up at a couple of things that sound like truisms because they've been through the cultural wash so many times.
One, the big one, is "choose to be kind when possible." This runs back to the golden rule, though I'm fond of Hillel's "that which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; this is the whole of the Law, all else is commentary."
One is "the purpose of a system is what it does," which is necessary to enshrine as principle for me because I have a long-standing tendency to take systems and authorities at their word. (Corollary: "a systems is defined not by its rules, but by how they are enforced.") As a personal principle I guess it can be defined as "intent isn't magic."
One is "none of us without all of us," which is more often honoured in the breach but provides guidance nonetheless.
I don't have an unanswerable source for these, other than 'we all do better when we cooperate.' I'm okay with that too.