Receiving Death Threads (morals, Earth, paradise, funerals, reincarnation)

[cardero]

Lately I have been engaging in many death threads. I have posted on such varied topics as abortion, justifying war, vegetarians right not to promote animal slaughter. There has been much discussion about what constitutes murder and what doesn’t. It seems that everyone has their own opinions and their own degrees of morals concerning death. Now there is nothing wrong or right in proposing opinions and expressing how you feel about death but the one thing that I have observed is that sometimes these opinions bleed over into the realm of judgment. For example one person may feel quite persistent about stating how immoral it is to destroy a human fetus but is very supportive about soldiers marching off to war. Another person may express their distaste about the violent murders that happen in their country while eating a steak dinner as they type their response on their computer.

Are there degrees of death or is death just death? Are some people hypocritical in their views and judgments of death? Have we forgotten that death is a TRUTH of life on this planet? What is the acceptable life rate of an entity? Why do we sob uncontrollably or feel remorse at funerals but not bat an eyelash over the cat we just ran over with our car? With our respected religious beliefs and our views of the afterlife why is death described as a plague to mankind? Does everyone wish to reach a very old age and die peacefully in their own beds or are we much more realistic in how we will pass from this existence?

[HelpMe]

i wish i could afford steak.i've never run over a cat.i don't think death is a plague.

[huajiro]

Originally Posted by carrdero

Lately I have been engaging in many death threads. I have posted on such varied topics as abortion, justifying war, vegetarians right not to promote animal slaughter. There has been much discussion about what constitutes murder and what doesn’t. It seems that everyone has their own opinions and their own degrees of morals concerning death. Now there is nothing wrong or right in proposing opinions and expressing how you feel about death but the one thing that I have observed is that sometimes these opinions bleed over into the realm of judgment. For example one person may feel quite persistent about stating how immoral it is to destroy a human fetus but is very supportive about soldiers marching off to war. Another person may express their distaste about the violent murders that happen in their country while eating a steak dinner as they type their response on their computer.

Are there degrees of death or is death just death? Are some people hypocritical in their views and judgments of death? Have we forgotten that death is a TRUTH of life on this planet? What is the acceptable life rate of an entity? Why do we sob uncontrollably or feel remorse at funerals but not bat an eyelash over the cat we just ran over with our car? With our respected religious beliefs and our views of the afterlife why is death described as a plague to mankind? Does everyone wish to reach a very old age and die peacefully in their own beds or are we much more realistic in how we will pass from this existence?

I think I have been pretty consistent in my views against killing. I don't believe in abortion, I don't eat meat, I don't believe in war. I agree with you completely, we should think about how we affect every living being on the planet. It is the single largest belief that motivates me. What I don't understand is that how there are so many of us on the planet that consider ourselves "good" people, yet somehow we promote killing. I am not perfect, but on a daily basis, I try to find things that I can do to avoid affecting other living beings negatively, and killing them is definitely a negative thing.

[HelpMe]

are plants not alive because they don't have faces of pain when you kill them?

[huajiro]

As I am not a plant, I do not know.

[HelpMe]

you are not a bull or pig either, again, is the plant alive or not?

[cardero]

Huajiro writes: I don't believe in abortion, I don't eat meat, I don't believe in war. I am not perfect, but on a daily basis, I try to find things that I can do to avoid affecting other living beings negatively, and killing them is definitely a negative thing.

But since death is inevitable should we as a society view it as negative? I mean if a human doesn’t die in the line of duty or survives an abortion how would we expect them to die and at what age? If a cow survives the slaughterhouse or an insect the bottom of our shoe what does fate entail for the remaining years of their lives? If we have strong faith in religious doctrines whether you believe in paradise in heaven or reincarnation or if you believe that we inherit the earth isn’t the result of death a source of hope. Aren’t these entities destined to a “better place”? Aren't these positive aspects?

[painted wolf]

I can not see death as negitive, it is as important as life. Life by its very nature feeds on the death of others, yes eaven the plants that feed on your corpse as you lie in the ground. All I can do is respect the sacrifice that other lives make so that I can continue to live and when my time comes hope that my death provides life for others. I do not believe in killing needlessly and feel equily bad about both the cat hit by the car and the human put in a box.

As for the difference between Killing and Murder, that is a cultural call. It is at its heart an "Us vs. Them" mentality. Killing is the death of someone outside your peer-group, it is justified by saying that their death isn't as meaningful because they aren't the same as you and your friends. Murder is the death of someone inside your peer-group. Murder is wrong because it violates the social constraints of the peer-group. If this disctintion were not made in society than such things as wars could not happin. By de-humanizing people outside our peer-goup we insulate ourselves from the moral guilt that we would normaly have. Thus deaths outside the peer-group are always talked about in a sterile way to further prevent moral guilt.
Thus when our military bombs an 'enemy' it is never called murder but something nice and vague like neutralizing. The same idea works for the deaths of innocent people who are outside our peer-group wich we call 'colateral damage'. However when the 'enemy' kills one of our peers we call it murder. Thus the deaths on 9/11 are not colateral damage from the distruction of the buildings, but the deaths of the civilains in the bombings of Bagdad are. Again this serves to protect our self-image as good and moral people and our enemy as something different from ourselves. Without this distinction a society can not find moral justification for killing.
The death penalty works in the same way by cutting the person on death row out of society and into the class of 'not one of us'.

but this is just what I think.

wa:do

[huajiro]

Originally Posted by carrdero

But since death is inevitable should we as a society view it as negative? I mean if a human doesn’t die in the line of duty or survives an abortion how would we expect them to die and at what age? If a cow survives the slaughterhouse or an insect the bottom of our shoe what does fate entail for the remaining years of their lives? If we have strong faith in religious doctrines whether you believe in paradise in heaven or reincarnation or if you believe that we inherit the earth isn’t the result of death a source of hope. Aren’t these entities destined to a “better place”? Aren't these positive aspects?

I am starting to believe that death may not change things so much. I put "Heaven is what you make it" in a thread and I am starting to live by it.

[Jaiket]

I think death is both important and neccessary. Suffering gets my back up. Murder is another, although yes it is death, it is tragically unfair and causes suffering to others. My stance is usually, why hurt others if we can avoid it?