October 28, 2006

Economically flexible morality

By Bookworm
Art, or things that pass for art, can be useful.  Otherwise, how can one explain the epiphany I had when watching 2004's Maria Full of Grace, a critically acclaimed movie about a teenager from Columbia who smuggles drugs into America.  Both the movie, and the critics' unconditional praise for the movie, helped clarify something I've been struggling with for a long time, which is defining what exactly constitutes morality on the Left. One of the reasons I abandoned the Left was because I came to believe that, while there are certainly moral individuals who hew Left politically, the Left collectively has no morality.  By morality, I mean a transcendent set of ethical rules, external to specific individual needs and concerns. The best example is the Ten Commandments, which are unconcerned with individual situations or cultures but, instead, are ethical practices applicable to all people at all times.  Abiding by these virtues is good; failing to abide by them,...(Read Full Article)