Political Fever - The Political Debate Forums - View Single Post - Should education be mandatory and state-run?

xjoe3x · #**106** (**permalink**) 05-13-2008, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Technocratic_Utilitarian

You're argument boils down to this:

1. The children are not society's.
2. The children are not mine.
3. The children are the parents'
4. Given they are the parents', they have the responsibility and right to care for them.
5. This right includes however they see fit.
5. If it kills them, injures them, maims them, oh well. Too bad.
6. "wanks furiously to freedom."

Your ethical argument recognizes no restrictions on parental authority of care. You assume that, because parents are the primary caregivers, and because the children are theirs, not society's, they have ultimate authority over them sans any accountability. This is demonstrated by your statement that parents can deliberately fail to treat their children's health problems, thus killing them, and that's perfectly okay because "they can choose to treat them as they see fit." If because of stupidity, malice, or ignorance, they choose not to treat, say, the measles, because it's against their religious views, they can freely kill or horribly disfigure their kids via parental right. This is ludicrous and ethically bankrupt.

Moreover, the logic of your argument leads to further absurd conclusions. If we accept the premise that parents can deny simple medical care to their children "because they feel like it," there's nothing to stop them from applying the same reasoning to feeding their kids and other types of care. For example, we should also allow parents the unrestricted right to choose how to nourish their children, even if it means starving them on "special religious diets." If they can kill them due to lack of medical care recommended by doctors, I don't see why they can't also starve their kids to death against the recommendations of nutritionists! After all, they aren't MY kids, so what do I care, right?! Maybe they believe prayer will feed their kids, so we should just sit by and watch as they starve to death. Great idea. But yea. My views are so atrocious. How DARE I limit parents' right to exercise life and death over their kids like they are disposable property.

The only difference is the in type of activity, not in the nature of the results OR the logic used to defend them. If you are prepared to argue that parents have the freedom to kill their children by neglectful medical care, they also have the right to kill their children through neglectful feeding, bathing, or hygiene. You clearly fail to understand the purpose and nature of ethics, instead choosing the Libertarian "me me me mine mine mine freedomwank" Libertarian ideology, where killing kids through incompetent, neglectful parenting is okay behaviour. Absolutely heinous. It's all the worse that you couch your ethical deviancy with horsepockey philosobabble about "freedom" so it sounds better.

Just be honest. You favour allowing parents to kill their children through incompetent, neglectful behaviour.

Ya you have it exactly right.

Parents can and should raise there children how they see fit, as long as they are not intentionally beating the child. You seem to want to raise other people children, I see that as being ethically bankrupt. Yes they can fail to treat them and treat them ineffectively if they wish. Just as they can fail to treat themselves or treat themselves ineffectively.

Yes parents should be able to diet there children. They should be able to ban them from fast food. Make them vegetarians. Make them vegans. Whatever they see as best fit.

How dare you try to raise other peoples children is what I would say.

You fail to understand that ETHICS does not just represent your views. What is ethical to you is not ethical at all to me. I do not follow utilitarian ethics, hopefully I never will. My ethics are very much about liberty and freedom, things you want to write off as nothing. Just be honest you wish you could raise everyone else's children. You think you and your morals and your choices are what everyone should do. That is where freedom comes in. Freedom from some people, like you, from forcing to act a certain way. I sure like my ethics a lot more.