They had the ability to choose between their mother's way, which is the Mormon way, and my way, which is the way of reasoning. It wasn't a difficult choice for them.
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Not every man wants to sexually abuse teenagers.
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I had to have a spinal fusion at L5/S1. It is definitely major surgery. Keep in touch and let us know how it goes. Recovery is going to be an ordeal, but you can do it. In my case, it was worth it. It put an end to years of chronic pain. I'm not sure how disc replacement works out, however. Good luck.
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"That there's Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. He works for me now."
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Isn't it interesting? For all the work I've done explaining how population dynamics in polygamous societies result in underage marriage, it isn't lost on me that the very first Mormon polygamous marriage in history involved a girl under age 18. It seems Smith didn't even wait for the scarcity of women to bring about the inevitable underage polygamous marriage. He jumped in feet-first. This pu
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n/t
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And God knows I don't believe in It.
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Are you willing to defend your theory of libertarianism in front of 100 philosophy undergraduates? That's what I do.
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Are you willing to agree with this?
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None of this depends on how I think of myself. It is right or wrong regardless of how people perceive my personality. With how I really feel about libertarianism, I've actually been very polite and patient and I've taken a lot of time out of my busy day to explain this very carefully. If I didn't have enormous self-confidence, I'd just be another ineffective drone laboring under the mercy of
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Exactly. I couldn't agree more. My human rights theory ends with the conclusion that polygamy should remain illegal, and that we must enforce the law. It's really pretty hard to argue against this, but plenty of people do, hence the need for my theory.
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If we are considering whether some liberty should be given human rights status, we have to consider what would happen if everyone did it. If the answer results in a contradiction, then we can't give the liberty in question human rights status. It's really pretty simple. If everyone practiced polygamy, not everyone could practice polygamy. Don't make the mistake of thinking that by performing
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"I think your argument has a similar fallacy as the gay marriage argument. Namely that by legalizing it the majority of people would choose that form of marriage over traditional marriage." ________________________________- This is not at all what I claim. Of course I think that most people will stick with monogamy. I am merely acknowledging that if we legalize polygamy, there is
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I'm just reminding everyone that religious liberties do have their limitations. There are some things that some religious people want to do in the name of religion that violate the rights of others. We can't allow this as it is an injustice. This is where we should draw the line.
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Remember that Thursday, Sept 30 (later today), I will be presenting my human rights theory to the philosophy club at the University of Utah. It's completely informal. Usually it's philosophy undergraduates there, but I've invited some friends also. I will be doing much larger presentations later, but you may not want to miss out on this one. 5:00, Sept 30 Tanner Philosophical Library Caro
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And you used a hell of a lot fewer words than I did!
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I started this thread as a discussion of political philosphy. If the discussion is going to degenerate into one of political partisanship, I'm finished with what I'm doing here. I don't endorse any political party. What I'm talking about is the moral system that is going on in the background. I hope that people can learn something from this when they do engage in discussions of a partisan nat
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But moral anarchy, due to its inherent contradictions, is actually a form of moralism itself. The moral anarchists are never short of their own form of moral imperialism. Sociopaths.
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"Simply doing the bare minimum in society is nothing to be praised for. It is only the bare minimum. If you do less than that, we will put you in prison." Who is "we" that will put a person in prison? And why have a minimum if its is, in fact, not enough? __________________________________________ Who is "we?" I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear. It is &qu
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I assume no such thing. I simply allow for the possibility. As it is, there is a certain level of deterrence. Plenty of people do not practice polygamy simply because it is illegal. What would these people do if it became legal? Well, they wouldn't be doing anything to preserve equality and human rights if they became Mormon fundamentalists. Inequality is not a human right. If it was, th
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"They *could* solve the problem by trying to recruit single adult women from outside the sect instead. But they *choose* to break the law. For that, they should pay the consequence." _______________________________________ But then they are only transferring that shortage of women to society at large. What happens if they become a very large society themselves, which could very wel
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The thing that makes libertarianism so popular is that it gives people a reason to be proud of themselves for not lifting a finger except to help themselves.
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If anyone has no place in the bedroom, it's some church that I don't even believe in. But by God they can't stay out. They are too perverted to look away.
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One of my life's biggest goals is to teach as many people I can about the reality of your statement. It's funny how the moral anarchists are the ones who often have the most pushy, moralistic attitudes of all!
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That is really insightful! I never thought of that. I'm going to hold on to that piece of wisdom. Thank you for sharing it. A good bit of wisdom has the beautiful quality of propagating more wisdom the more we examine it. Spot on!
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Some people have accused me of being overly aggressive. I really want to have this discussion with libertarians. If they can prove me wrong, my commitments as a philosopher compel me to change my view. If I held this view simply because I found it personally satisfying, I would not have the right to call myself a philosopher. In the beginning, I took a strong libertarian position myself. But
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Human rights are systematically violated. You've taken two sentences to describe it. This is called a "minimalist" approach to moral reasoning. But humanity is vastly complicated and a minimalistic approach is a limit to further wisdom on the matter. Theories about decent living as human beings need to be rich and full of conceptual opportunities, not minimalistic. What I've desc
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This is the libertarian mantra. But sometimes people engage in human rights abuses in the bedroom. To the libertarians, we don't seem to have the right to prevent such a thing. But that is not the point. In order to explain a few things, I have to give some theoretical background. Please bear with me as this is vital for understanding my position on human rights with regard to polygamous cul
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It isn't a matter of painting everyone with the same brush, as far as BELIEFS are concerned. Mormon fundamentalism is not just polygamy. It is actually a divine moral imperative to practice "polygyny." So the imbalance of rights between the sexes is built right in. As soon as they start practicing polygamy, they cause a shortage of available females. What they "believe" i
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I think if I have the chance to explain my human rights theory, I can show that legalizing polygamy is not in anyone's best interest. When people say that it's OK if it involves consenting adults, I don't think they completely understand what they mean by "consent." Even among the adults, in the business of Mormon fundamentalism, the notion of consent is deeply compromised, since part
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