05-18-2013, 03:18 PM
Wow, This is great! This reminds me of the philosophical discussions we had in our college dorm rooms at 2AM.
So first I used the word "bad" and after a HellJacket's thoughtful response I amended it to criminal. And now after both Gretyl's reply and another from HJ, I am reconsidering again.
The issue with criminal as HJ points out is that it is dependent on a society's laws and in this case we might need to consider the Wesens as part of a different society. And going back to my "bad" concept or HJ's "wrong" concept we can see an immediate parallel. Societies and cultures have mores as well as laws, and differing concepts of what is right or wrong.
Let me digress a little here and say unless someone brings it up, I don't even want to go down the road that what the wesens do is excusable because of animal instincts. Wesen are conscious sentient beings that are capable of making choices. This is not a situation like a lion killing an antelope.
And next I would like to head off another argument - although I admit I'm on shakier ground here. some things are universally wrong. when a 17 year old girls gets raped (or murdered, mutilated or tortured) , it may not be criminal in that jurisdiction, and it may not even be wrong according to local customs - but (IMHO) there must be some kind of universal set of mores that would classify it as wrong.
This reminds me of a concept that vegans have ( i think Monroe might have heard of this ). Its called Speciesism. Vegans considers speciesism as bigotry, just like racism and sexism. One of the tenets of speciesism is that its wrong for "the strong" to oppress "the weak". So in Portland, one could conclude its wrong whenever a an individual uses force to curtail another's life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness. No matter what species are involved.
So first I used the word "bad" and after a HellJacket's thoughtful response I amended it to criminal. And now after both Gretyl's reply and another from HJ, I am reconsidering again.
The issue with criminal as HJ points out is that it is dependent on a society's laws and in this case we might need to consider the Wesens as part of a different society. And going back to my "bad" concept or HJ's "wrong" concept we can see an immediate parallel. Societies and cultures have mores as well as laws, and differing concepts of what is right or wrong.
Let me digress a little here and say unless someone brings it up, I don't even want to go down the road that what the wesens do is excusable because of animal instincts. Wesen are conscious sentient beings that are capable of making choices. This is not a situation like a lion killing an antelope.
And next I would like to head off another argument - although I admit I'm on shakier ground here. some things are universally wrong. when a 17 year old girls gets raped (or murdered, mutilated or tortured) , it may not be criminal in that jurisdiction, and it may not even be wrong according to local customs - but (IMHO) there must be some kind of universal set of mores that would classify it as wrong.
This reminds me of a concept that vegans have ( i think Monroe might have heard of this ). Its called Speciesism. Vegans considers speciesism as bigotry, just like racism and sexism. One of the tenets of speciesism is that its wrong for "the strong" to oppress "the weak". So in Portland, one could conclude its wrong whenever a an individual uses force to curtail another's life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness. No matter what species are involved.