if you have to lie to get what you want, you don't deserve it.
he gave zero real-world scenarios, i'm sure more because there are none worth mentioning rather than simple laziness on his part, so i'll have to. let's say that you discover that a disaster is coming decades from now, but you can't prove it so nobody cares. you exaggerate your findings, disregard contrary evidence, and vilify the opposition who point out the gaping holes in your claim. is this for the "greater good"? only if your original findings are accurate, perhaps. but, if you're willing to go to these lengths then how much credit can be put into the original claim that your foreseen disaster is real? and what does it say about a society that can be so manipulated?
keep in mind that the source of all wrong in civilization is the human element. religions try to supersede human error by appealing to a higher authority, but the institutions are ultimately operated by people who enforce the rules where they can and conform to popular opinion when they have to. secular humanism under the guise of objective science doesn't do anything about that, so when i hear people trying to push policy or drive social issues on secular humanist grounds what i hear is the drumbeat of theocracy by another name.
harris' presentation was layered with politics, which is a huge turnoff for me when we're supposed to be discussing morality. there was a part about 1/3 the way through his presentation where he derided corporal punishment in elementary schools as being "wrong" for teaching kids' "well-being" and showed a map of the states that still use it: generally central US and the deep south, aka the red states. it got a mild laugh out of his audience, so i'm sure he was just playing up to the leftwing crowd, but there was no mention of even a token measuring stick... just the implication that obviously the wrong people do it
he ended with a background image of "god hates fags" posters on the left, euro jihadists on the right, and a protest sign of "obama = antichrist" in the center. no mention of the "bush = antichrist" crowd, or the deranged groups who literally pray to obama using political talking points as a mantra. again, this smacks of a political rally rather than an honest discussion.
i'm sure if i talked to sam harris he'd think that killing da gays would be a definite "wrong", especially with the type of content in his lecture. but, it'd be just as easy to make the point from a secular humanist perspective that (according to popular left-think) gay people may be genetically inclined towards that lifestyle, their sexual preference barring them from procreating, thus taking up valuable space in civilized society. so, for the greater good they should be restricted to second-class citizenship, then later cast out when the mood is right, and eventually killed outright, so that the human race can achieve a balanced well-being. ;|
he gave zero real-world scenarios, i'm sure more because there are none worth mentioning rather than simple laziness on his part, so i'll have to. let's say that you discover that a disaster is coming decades from now, but you can't prove it so nobody cares. you exaggerate your findings, disregard contrary evidence, and vilify the opposition who point out the gaping holes in your claim. is this for the "greater good"? only if your original findings are accurate, perhaps. but, if you're willing to go to these lengths then how much credit can be put into the original claim that your foreseen disaster is real? and what does it say about a society that can be so manipulated?
keep in mind that the source of all wrong in civilization is the human element. religions try to supersede human error by appealing to a higher authority, but the institutions are ultimately operated by people who enforce the rules where they can and conform to popular opinion when they have to. secular humanism under the guise of objective science doesn't do anything about that, so when i hear people trying to push policy or drive social issues on secular humanist grounds what i hear is the drumbeat of theocracy by another name.
harris' presentation was layered with politics, which is a huge turnoff for me when we're supposed to be discussing morality. there was a part about 1/3 the way through his presentation where he derided corporal punishment in elementary schools as being "wrong" for teaching kids' "well-being" and showed a map of the states that still use it: generally central US and the deep south, aka the red states. it got a mild laugh out of his audience, so i'm sure he was just playing up to the leftwing crowd, but there was no mention of even a token measuring stick... just the implication that obviously the wrong people do it
he ended with a background image of "god hates fags" posters on the left, euro jihadists on the right, and a protest sign of "obama = antichrist" in the center. no mention of the "bush = antichrist" crowd, or the deranged groups who literally pray to obama using political talking points as a mantra. again, this smacks of a political rally rather than an honest discussion.
i'm sure if i talked to sam harris he'd think that killing da gays would be a definite "wrong", especially with the type of content in his lecture. but, it'd be just as easy to make the point from a secular humanist perspective that (according to popular left-think) gay people may be genetically inclined towards that lifestyle, their sexual preference barring them from procreating, thus taking up valuable space in civilized society. so, for the greater good they should be restricted to second-class citizenship, then later cast out when the mood is right, and eventually killed outright, so that the human race can achieve a balanced well-being. ;|
![[Image: rsz_jqvaz_1.jpg]](http://z6.ifrm.com/4805/72/0/p1022159/rsz_jqvaz_1.jpg)