Re: Nature of this list

Hi Shawn,

moving to [email protected] .

On Saturday 23 Apr 2011 20:24:36 Shawn H Corey wrote:
> On 11-04-23 12:53 PM, Casey West wrote:
> > 1. What did you do that doesn=92t fit with our Lincoln School Rules? (Be
> > specific and start with =93I=94)
>=20
> Wow.  The very first thing they have to think about is their contempt
> for the school authorities and not their victims' feelings.  No wonder
> why they tought they could get away with it.  All they had to do is hide
> their actions from the authorities.  You know, there's something a
> little bit sick about a society that insists that the authorities are
> the only ones capable of deciding right and wrong.

As an Objectivist (both a Randian, and in the meaning of believing that=20
absolute Ethics and a shared, objective, reality exist), I agree with such=
=20
sentiments. The whole "a criminal is someone who violates the law" is quite=
=20
contemptible, and it is my opinion that a criminal is only someone who did=
=20
something that is wrong according to the absolute, objective, Ethics is a=20
criminal. A person who violated the law and was convicted as such is a=20
"felon", but not necessarily a criminal, and we can recall many past heroes=
=20
who were prosecuted by things that we now consider as non-crimes, and it's =
not=20
unlikely that many innocent men still get prosecuted as such.

I think explaining the difference between Laws/Regulations/Rules, Ethos,=20
Morality, etc. to schoolchildren is too big of an undertaking. (I had a=20
problem explaining the difference between "Ethical" and "Moral" to a very=20
bright and intelligent programmer, with a smaller amount of intuition and=20
knowledge than I do in Philosophy.), so imagine doing it for school childre=
n.=20
Still I think this question could be demoted because the rules is not the=20
worst thing that they could violate, nor should these children be instructe=
d=20
to blindly accept the rules, or not challenge them (without rebelling or=20
violating them knowingly). See:

http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

=2D-=20
=2D----------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish       http://www.shlomifish.org/
Original Riddles - http://www.shlomifish.org/puzzles/

Dax: yep, space. Nothing but nothing all around.
    -- Star Trek, "We, the Living Dead" by Shlomi Fish

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