The Valid and the Invalid

There are many situations in which people mistake the value for the abuses =
of the value. This leads them to throw away what is valid along with what i=
s invalid.

Valid: Confronting abuse against unattractive people. Invalid: militating a=
gainst family, beauty and love.

Valid: Wanting business to treat workers better. Invalid: advocating for sl=
aughters of propertied class.

Valid: Seeking more responsible treatment of the environment. Invalid: atta=
cking scientific and technological progress.

Valid: loving your ethnic group. Invalid: hating other ethnic groups.

What we see in such situations, once again, is confusion between the value =
and the misuses of the value. That stupid teenagers and unethical plastic s=
urgeons do wrong things for beauty does not damn beauty; it damns them. Tha=
t some in business are ugly to their workers does not damn the propertied; =
it damns them. That some people see environmental protection as incompatibl=
e with the goals of capitalism does not damn capitalism; it damns them. Tha=
t some people think that patriotism means hating other countries does not d=
amn patriotism; it damns them.

When confronted with abuses of a value, the correct solution is therefore d=
istinguishing the valid from the invalid. Stupid teenagers and unethical pl=
astic surgeons don=E2=80=99t own beauty; it has existed for many centuries =
before them and will continue existing long after they are gone. People who=
 use money for wrong things do not own money; there are all sorts of prospe=
rous people, and many of them are good people. People who blindly plunder n=
ature do not own science and technology; the best technologies are congruen=
t with nature and realize both economic benefit and environmental sanity. A=
nd people who support such things as white supremacism make total asses of =
their ethnic groups and lead to the ethnic group being hated.

So we have seen people look at the wrong done in families and becoming anti=
-family. That is wrong. The problem is not the value but the misuses of the=
 value. People doing wrong things in families discredits family as such, wh=
ich is a completely destructive direction. Family should not be equated wit=
h its abuses. Family can, and should, be done better.

There are any number of applications to this. And when we see a value being=
 tarnished by its abuses, the correct solution, once again, the valid from =
the invalid. Then these kinds of problems actually have a chance to be solv=
ed in a wise and principled way.

This, then, becomes the solution to the situation.