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To: Iwo Jima
I think it boils down to more of an acceptable vs. unacceptable comparrison than a right vs. wrong. Yes certain things are right and wrong.

I also suspect that the list of universal 'right and wrong' is a short list.

Western culture looks upon 'arrainged marriages' and teenage brides as wrong because we believe in the freedom of choice and association when it comes to marriage. Yet it is perfectly normal, acceptable, and perceived as 'right' in the cultures that practice arrainged marriages and where women are married off at young ages.

Western cultures look down upon and consider "wrong" many of the practices of island people and other 'native' tribes with their practices of body modification. They see it as normal and right.

Is it "wrong" for parents to arrainge the marriage of their children? Is it "wrong" for one to modify their body by piercing, tattooing, other forms of modification?

I say neither are 'wrong', but also neither is an 'accepted' practice of western culture.

18 posted on 07/08/2002 8:59:24 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: Phantom Lord
"Is it "wrong" for parents to arrainge the marriage of their children?"

Yes, it is obejctively, verifiably wrong. It is always immoral. I assume that you are speaking of arrangements which force marriage to a particular person upon children, not just a situation in which the parents say "this is the person that we would really like for you to marry and you will get lots of money, goodies, and approval from us if you do."

A coercive marriage is immoral no matter how much the society approves. Cultures which practice coercive marriages are violating human nature and the natural rights that ALL PERSONS are born with. Such a society will not propser, as compared to societies which recognize and observe human nature and reality, and is objectively inferior to other societies. You cannot cheat reality.

"Is it "wrong" for one to modify their body by piercing, tattooing, other forms of modification?

No. What someone does to one's body is not a question of right or wrong, good or evil. It is a question of socially acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Social behaivor can be very important to a society, but it is not tthe same as what is objectively right or wrong.
21 posted on 07/08/2002 9:13:17 AM PDT by Iwo Jima
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