Do you hold any unpopular opinions? You don't necessarily have to justify or defend your opinions, only to state them. I think I have a few : 1) Suicide should be discouraged but 'legal'. Throwing people into a rubber room and forcing medication down their throat is condescending and paternalistic, it violates their right to self-autonomy and it's pointless because it doesn't improve their quality of life. We shouldn't pat ourselves on the back for preserving life if we're not going to help alleviate the person's suffering. Psychiatric hospitals are only useful if their patients are there voluntarily. Medically assisted suicide in cases where the person is in the final stages of some terminal illness or suffering from some irreversible agony should be encouraged. 2) Pedophilia is a sexual orientation, not a mental illness. Prejudice and discrimination against non-active pedophiles is as morally wrong as prejudice and discrimination against homosexuals or any other minority. Furthermore, simulated child porn should be legal. Computer generated images are not sentient beings, they do not have interests that we're morally obligated to protect. There is no logical reason to illegalize simulated, child porn if no actual child was involved in it's making, some people have a hysterical, emotional response to the issue of pedophilia that prevents them from analyzing the issue without bias. 3) Discrimination against sexually promiscuous women is also morally wrong and conservatives have no right to force their Judeao-Christian based values regarding sex on people of different lifestyles. Gays should be allowed to legally marry (and to adopt), polyamorous people should be allowed to legally marry more than one person (and to adopt) and prostitution should be legal. 4) Women should have the right to an abortion (this isn't necessarily 'controversial' but disputed by many). Before the fetus develops a functioning nervous system it is (presumably) an insentient thing and deserves no moral regard. After the fetus develops a functioning nervous system it is (presumably) a sentient being and deserves moral regard but his or her interests should not trump the interests of the mother. 5) The death penalty should be abolished (again, not very controversial but disputed by many). The prison system should be drasticallly altered to the point where it is no longer recognizable. The current prison system should eventually be replaced by placing criminals in psychiatric hospitals not targeted towards criminals alone or putting them on house arrest. ( I know I said that psychiatric hospitals are only useful if their patients are there voluntarily but you forfeit your right to freedom of movement/self-autonomy when you infringe upon the rights of others, it's a matter of protecting society rather than punishing criminals for it's own sake.) Nobody should be given a life sentence with no possible hope of parole, regardless of their crime. 6) Non-humans animals (with the exception of those who lack a nervous system) should be legally regarded as 'persons'. Killing or mistreating a non-human animal is as morally wrong as killing or mistreating another human. We should provide existing, domesticated, non-human animals with food, shelter and love but stop breeding anymore for experimentation, clothing, food, entertainment, companionship or any other purpose. We should also stop encroaching on the territories of 'wild', non-human animals (ie. deforestation). 7) All third world debt to wealthy nations should be abolished. 8 ) Considering the issue of global warming (the ecological impact of humans generally and the developed world especially) and the fact that there are so many already existing orphans that need good homes/loving parents, reproducing is selfish and morally irresponsible. I know there's more but that's all that immediatly comes to mind.
you could have started 8 new threads with all of this material...there are some great discussions right around the corner... just an idea
1. Blacks should all still be in slavery because it's an economically viable model to have a country run in this manner. If blacks do not wish to be 'downgraded to 2/3 citizen status again, then the white citizens of the U.S. should consider "taking one for the team" and become slaves for the aforementioned reason! 2. All anti-smoking laws should be abolished. All anti-smoking propaganda should cease. If the resources (money, time, effort, etc...) used in the campaign against smoking were redirected to research on curing cancer, the likelihood is that breakthroughs would be coming faster than the rates at which people chose to stop smoking as a result of this campaign. 3. Homeless people should be allowed to beg for money in any manner they see fit. A Jehovah's Witness can knock on anyone's door and a politician running for office is allowed to call anyone's number with impunity. In a land where supposedly "all men are created equal", I believe the privileges afforded these two groups should be given to the homeless.
Afrolove - great points here - i will attempt to address some tomorrow after some sleep. Thanks for posting this....
Great post! I am not even sure where to start. So I will start with #7 A subject near and dear to my heart. YES all third world debt to wealthy nations should be abolished. It is never going to be repaid in the first place and even if it was.....at what cost. Economic supremecy of a few nations in actuality means indentured servitude of others. Freeing up tangible wealth of third world nations will eventually improve the economies of all nations, not just the debtors. I know this is a very simplistic expression but I am tired. THE BOTTOM BILLION BY PAUL COLLIER is an incredible book that I think everyone should read. It has the potential to change the world economy as well as the way we view wealth.
9) I don't believe in God or free will. I believe that physical phenomenon is the only phenomenon that exists and all physical objects (humans are physical 'objects') are subject to the laws of physics and react to stimuli rather than 'choosing' to behave in the way that we do. Even quantum randomness wouldn't be 'free will' in the context that we use the term. 10) Monogamy isn't for everyone. It works well for many humans but not for all of us. In the same way that some humans are homosexuals, others are heterosexual, bi-sexual or asexual, I think that some of us are more suited for 'swinging', some of us for monogamy and some of us for polyamory. The world would be a lot more interesting if everyone wasn't expected to have the same kind of relationship. 11) Physically disciplining children is wrong. We should teach them non-violence by demonstrating it.
I have a list of controversial opinions I wrote to post, but it's reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllyyyyyyy long, so I'm thinking I might not, for fear of boring the world to death.
-Circumcising infants (male or female) for non-medical reasons is immoral. If most uncircumcised men cringe at the idea of having skin cut off from their penis, imagine how painful it must be for infants, they lack our coping strategies (because of their limited intelligence) and it isn't safe to use anesthetics on them.
I am not convinced immoral is how I'd describe it (guess that's an individual belief thing) but it reeks of torture techniques and I am not a supporter. It just makes no sense to do. One controversial but common question I have is how can someone who states they believe in God, goes to church regularly and even publicly displays their relationship with Jesus proceed to insult, degrade and/or humiliate another person or even living creature (e.g. beat the hell out of a dog)? Follow up to that: how can one justify violence, rape, murder in the name of God? What kind of God supports killing people of other churches, skin colour or faiths? Or is that simply man's ego corrupting the message of God on a massive scale? How does someone who is a member of a religious organization such as a Baptist, Catholic, Hindu, etc.. rectify this within their minds or souls?
-Marijuana should be legalized -Nobody should be allowed to own a gun because it is 'cool' or 'macho'. Guns should be used for self-defense alone, if your life isn't in imminent danger or you don't live in a dangerous area, you don't need one. The day should eventually come when guns and all other weapons (that were specifically designed to be weapons) are destroyed and no more are created. -As there is no empirical evidence for creationism, it should not be taught in schools as a valid, scientific theory. Evolution should be taught in all high school biology courses and no student should be excused from learning about it because of their (or their parent's) private, religious beliefs. -U.S currency should not have 'In God We Trust' written on it. This violates the whole idea of separating church from state.
I was going to post one as well, then I realized that my opinion on matters doesn't really matter. Some will agree, some will disagree... but at the end of the day, it matters only to me and those who are directly affected by the consequences of my actions. That said, this does have the potential to be a good thread among a mature crowd.
It's interesting to share and lots of us want to read your opinions Jaisee. That's why we read your posts! Good threads are always nice to have here I promise I'll behave more maturely in the future, lol. Well as much as possible anyways.
