Thread: What is morality? It's not about being inoffensive to everybody.

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

I don't claim to have any answers, my whole point was just to present what I consider a very fascinating way to think about morality that allows us to see beyond the limitations of the slave morality, to see that it's not all there is. Until I discovered this whole master/slave morality thing my own thinking on it was very standard and shallow, but then I was also pretty thoroughly brainwashed by liberal values without even realizing it. But contrasting for instance Jesus' turn the other cheek with something Apollo might have said like an eye for an eye (or Old Testament God for that matter.. ) -- comparing the gentle slave morality with a strong noble morality and realizing the stronger one isn't necessarily evil as we've been taught to believe has been an eye opener for me. And also realizing that slave morality just won't work for leaders - they need something entirely different, but they do want their followers to be very slavish.

So all I wanted to do with this thread was to present those options, get people thinking about the other side of the coin. I don't pretend to know anything beyond that. I think morality is something we all need to decide for ourselves, or more likely it's already embedded deeply in us and many of us are repressing some tendencies because we've been taught they're evil. I think once you throw off the shackles of warm fuzzy slavery you can begin to think about morality in a different light.

It stems from my own personal journey. I've always been too nice and wishy/washy (being a codependent son of a narcissist) and I've been trying to find ways to crack open that mold, to learn to be a bit more narcissistic myself (a necessary human trait). This set of ideas has helped a lot.

As for being slaves to our own morality - I think that's probably inescapable, unless you're amoral or immoral.

Damn. Only that last line actually responds to my questions, and even then it's an opinion without any justification. I thought this thread was going to be something.

Originally Posted by Abra

Damn. Only that last line actually responds to my questions, and even then it's an opinion without any justification. I thought this thread was going to be something.

Keep in mind, Abra, that those were some pretty tough questions. To responsibly answer them in the context of a thread post would have been something indeed, even for someone as thorough and thoughtful as Darkmatters.

... just sayin'