Agreed.

Absolutely disagree, bet ya didn't see that coming Some people like mayo on their BLT sandwich. Actually most people expect it. Does that mean the only way to have a "true" BLT is with mayo?

Absolutely not...

But if someone jumps off a 3 story building and doesn't get hurt, does that mean it's OK for everyone to start jumping off of 3 story buildings?...

__________________
"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Well of course not. But even Beatniks, such as myself, realize that if one plays with fire one is going to get burned. Does that mean people should stop cooking their food?

I would say "all but gone".

Congress is a cess pool. Take a look at how many ex-congressmen have been instrumental in getting big legislation passed, and then gone on to work for the corporations that benefited from the legislation.

Divorce rate at 50%.

Even the people who proclaim to be interested in ethics and morality are often busted committing fraud in statements, petitions, etc, etc, etc...
(Speaking particularly of the "Family" organizations.)

I was brought up to understand a "white lie" was a lie you told out of politeness. Concern for another's feelings.
But in looking up "white lie" now, I see definitions of "unimportant lie".
While there is an addendum of "especially for politeness", the implications are that all it has to be is a lie you don't feel is "important", and that opens the field wide open...

Don't worry Ethics and moral can't die as long as humans live together.

Beside We Democrats and Liberals are coming back strong to overturn the falling morals and ethics of the current government. We will not let the Right Wing destroy traditional American values, for the new greed and avarice that the Bush Administration and Right wing want.

Please stop that crap unless you are trying to derail this thread and make it a rehash of the Clinton contributions to the decay of ethics and morality in this country.

did he mention the Clintons?

EXCELLENT observation...

If I may add the rain to your thunder, people seem to have a clever way(as in "straight out lie") for justification of bad behavior...

people don't like to think of themselves as necessarily bad, so they spin the reasoning to clear themselves...

"Big corporations steal from the people, so I can lie on my taxes...I DESERVE IT."...

"I'm gonna sue that convenient store because I'm a moron and slipped in their parking lot...They can afford it."...

"I saw that guy drop the $20 bill, but hey...He should be more careful."...

"I'm not gonna let the guy into traffic...I got important stuff to do."...

__________________
"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Doing the rain dance...

All of what you said exists out in the public today, but at least people have the common "decency" to keep SOME of it fairly quiet.
People won't get on TV and say that they are cheating on their taxes.
Lawyers HAVE used the "big corporation" crap in law-suits...
etc, etc.

Another example is how some people will try to take that mentality and claim it excuses other illegal action, like the Jena 6.
I don't know how in the H-E-Double-Hockey-Stick anybody can think it's a rational argument to "free the Jena 6" just because of previous hardship for the blacks.
And the fact that there are actually groups of people proclaiming it? Amazing!

The obvious solution is to arrest EVERYBODY who did wrong, regardless of color. Like the jack-offs who drove around with nooses on their pick-up were arrested.

I think that the first problem comes when one wants to define ethics and morality. Ask ten different people and you get ten different answers. Which morals are we to use? Christian morals? Should Christian morals trump the ethics of democracy? Where do we place our values?

I would consider myself to be a moral person, but that is me, evaluating myself in the light of my own personal morals. Could someone else view me as immoral? Sure. I think that morals is the harder of the two to measure.

Ethics is generally the easier of the two to measure I think. Simple right/wrong. Even people who chose to be unethical know the difference. The same cannot be said for morality.

I think that the analysis over the changing dynamic of American families is interesting. I grew up in a steady nuclear family. I would say that I have strong ethics. I would also say that my friends who grew up in split families generally have ethical/personal responsibility issues. Creating a nuclear environment might be better, but that's merely from untrained observation.