It was! It was! Come back Erisian! Let us kick you again, please????
Sure, I'll give it one more try. Here's what clarity two days of thought produced, as opposed to trying to keep up with however many other people I had tearing into me:
I believe in liberty as the basis of pretty much everything else I believe. Everyone should (moral should) be able to do whatever they want; you should defend your own liberty, and you should not try to limit other peoples liberties because inevitably it will lead to someone doing the same to you.
With that as the most basic principle I made decisions by, TRY to look at it from my view:
There are people in the world saying that marriage is a sacred institution and that, for whatever reason, it should not be extended to same sex couples.
There are also people in the world saying that same sex couples deserve every right opposing sex couples have and that they should be allowed to marry.
Both of these groups are telling the other group that they have to do what the other says. I personally think that any time this takes place, as an act of anything other than advice, you are in the wrong. In other words, if I tell my friend I think it'd be a bad idea for him to take a job in another state, that isn't immoral, but if I tried to physically prevent him from doing it, or tried to emotionally maniuplate him into not doing so, it would be wrong.
There are two groups of people with almost perpindicularly divergent. The group I agree with is the group of people who hold forth that being homosexual does not make you immoral, or any different from anyone else. However, even more strongly than I believe that do I believe that everyone has the right to have whatever stupid-ass, wrong-headed opinion they want to have. No belief can be wrong; that's what makes them fucking beliefs.
There is room in the world for everyone to live any way they want. Maybe in the future the world will be a place where everyone thinks the way the group in favour of homosexuals being allowed to marry; maybe the future will be full of people who think the way I do. That doesn't really matter; in the present, according to my belief system, the most moral way to solve this dispute is to LEAVE THE PEOPLE WHO WON'T LET YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT ALONE!
I might disagree with anyone who says that being homosexual makes you evil, or wrong, but that doesn't matter. They can go on believing it till the day I die. If they act on that belief in a violent way, I'll take that case by case. But the fact remains: anyone can hold any belief that want to and it's not anyone elses right to tell them they have to think a different way, or that they have to act a different way.
Look at it this way: You can tell me I am wrong until the cows come home, but logically that means I can just as well tell you all that YOU are wrong. When I see two groups of people saying each of the other groups is wrong, all I can think of is: why are you wasting time arguing about this? If it's such a big deal to you, why don't you just go live your life the way you want to live it?
In the past four years, I have had 4 different jobs and lived in 3 different states. I live comfortably enough, and am usually happy. Don't tell me it is expensive or hard to move; it's NOT that expensive and it's NOT that hard, and you can get a job almost anywhere.
Now, to apply my philosophy to another example: Bush and Kerry are both the same unwitting villains. They are perpetuating the exact same system with mild, aesthetic differences. The system they perpetuate is the one that says that everyone between Canada, Mexico, the Atlantic and Pacific has to play by the same rules. WE DON'T. Think about how ridiculous a notion that is; what justification is there for it? People all over the country have vastly different temperments and needs and should be encouraged to live DIFFERENTLY so that if you aren't happy where you are you can go somewhere else!
I am not selfish. I don't give a shit about people I don't know, I don't give a flying fuck about lots of causes and I hope trying to describe my most basic of tenants helps to explain why. I am giving to my friends basically without limit; I try my best to provide any support my friends need because... what's the point of having friends if you aren't going to do that for them?
I find it insane to worry about the state of affairs of people you don't know. Leave them alone, or go find out what they really need, but dear god don't protest for them!
There, whatever, have fun kicking some more. I would like to conclude by saying one thing; Ganesh, you started out by posting in a manner that made me think you were reading what I wrote and I think I said something that offended you and made you not want to do that anymore, yet you continued. Whatever it was I said that you took personally, I would like to say that I don't know you and can't possibly have been judging you in saying whatever it is. Sorry. |
