Quote:
Originally Posted by wgrimm
Hmmm....So morality and ethics are all relative? I don't think I could ever base my sense of ethics on "If my government says it's okay." If that is truly the case, Nazis were ethical in their gassing of jews and gypsies- because their government said it was okay!
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I'd call that a serious stretch... although you could probably say that it was morally right
to the Nazis.
Morals really do change from group to group... my morals aren't exactly yours in every way. If law is based on morals, and different countries have different laws, it follows that different countries have different morals. For instance, "an eye for an eye" punishment is a recognized moral stance in some places, where in others the stripping of rights or freedoms is acceptable, and others use both based on degree or transgression.
That doesn't necessarily mean every culture with different morals than yours is automatically evil... just different. (The extreme cases... like Nazis... usually get weeded out over time.)
In reference to Sweden vs the U.S., we're talking about "fair use" being the difference between sharing copies with a friend (Sweden) vs making copies just for yourself (U.S.). The fact that one culture sees that issue differently than another isn't enough reason to lambast or condemn the other culture. It's also not an extreme difference in viewpoint, so in general, both countries can coexist without fighting over that point. (Just arguing in web forums.)
As I've indicated before, if I don't agree with a country's morals, I should not go to or do business with that country. If I like another country's morals more than my country's morals, it's a reason to think about moving.