Quote Originally Posted by Cloud No.9
morality personal. it is infinite, eternal and godless. it is unchanging.

nuremburg stated this in plain fact. the human rights act made it absolutely binding. participation in an immoral act cannot be redeemed by orders. it cannot be redeemed by anything. protecting you and your comrades does not remove the blame from war crimes.

morality does not change when you are on the front lines or at home.

it was determined 50 years ago what should be done in this world. what is right and what is wrong. genocide and torture = wrong. refusing to have any part in them = good. that was the choices handed to the world. america has decided on the first.
Ok Murder is wrong right? I think everybody agrees to that. So if I shoot a stranger, I'm an evil person, right?

Does it change if I tell you that this stranger came into my house and pointed a gun at my kids, and said "I'm going to kill you all", does that change how you view my shooting this person? That's the thing. Yes, killing the person is still morally wrong, but it's worse, morally speaking, to allow several people to die when you can do something to prevent it.

That's a major problem for all "absolute moralities". Yes it's wrong to lie, but would it still be wrong to lie if it saves a life? If the two wrongs are in conflict, your absolute ethics never hint of which of the two evils is worse. And that's really the only time morality can influence your behavior. No one other than a psychpath would go around shooting random people for fun. This is because everyone believes that such actions are evil. But what about self-defense? What about defending other people? In those situations, there are two evils. Which do you choose?

And as far as "eternal and godless" -- give me a break. It was perfectly moral in 1491 to the average aztec to kill a human being in a religious ritual. Animal sacrifices used to be extremely common. There used to be cannibals. None of that is moral today. Our morals have evolved since humans evolved 30,000 years ago.