- Jan 1, 2005
- 772
- 47
Do you hold any controversial 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.
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.
