Quote:
Originally Posted by Redcard
Where I stop being okay was your SECOND sentence. "I simply don't want certain things to happen." That implies you want a ban. That implies you want control or force over other people. You don't want people to read those types of fiction. You don't want people to do things. That stops being a moral belief of yours and starts being a societal morality issue.
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We may have to agree to disagree about this. I don't think that the statement, "I don't want certain things to happen," implies that I want to ban them. "I don't want them to happen and I don't want to ban them" may seem contradictory, but it's not--it's just an ethical, veridical paradox. Many people hold this sort of mindset.
"I don't want people to eat meat, and I don't want to ban meat-eating."
"I don't want people to be fat, and I don't want to ban being fat."
"I don't want my neighbors to have raggedy lawns and I don't want to pass a law requiring people to mow once a week."
etc, etc.
Perhaps we're hanging up on the issue of having personal moral opinions about our own activity and having moral desires regarding the functioning of society. I think both are fair and appropriate. I think it's okay to have moral desires about how society operates. Do you?