Revelativism
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Within this world, there is a vast group of people who have different morals, cultures and beliefs. Each community has its own customs and traits that support different moral standards that in turn may have a unique way of answering or dealing with various ethical questions because of their own moral beliefs. Relativism maintains when it comes to right and wrong there is neither, because what is acceptable within particular individuals, culture or societys morality must be implicit and taken into consideration (Mosser, 2010)
Lenn Goodmans Article ” Some Moral Minima” spoke about how different cultures view certain subjects such as Genocide, Famine, Germ Warfare, Terrorissm, Child warriors, hostages, Slavery, rape, incest and polygamy, and how these things are “morally wrong”. Am in agreement with Lenn Goodman; of course I am, his statements rang truth to his beliefs which were based on the history of moral knowledge and what Americans think. America is considered one big melting pot which has many different cultures, societys beliefs and a democracy.
Goodman expressed in his article that “Genocide is the ultimate essentializing of the exotic. It defines a type and assigns it a character, projecting what is inwardly hated or feared onto this fetish. Reflected in this developed mask it sees the image of the new man it hopes to create by the expulsion and destruction of the other, whose fantastic evil is blown up to cosmic scale with heaped up, extruded negativity, as larger warrant is sought for each new crime.” (Goodman, 2010) Goodman then asked the questions why is mass murder any different from a criminals slaying a marked victim; and why is genocide uglier than murder? The answer to that question is Genocide targets individuals as members of a group, seeking to destroy a race, a culture, a linguistic or ethnic identity, even a class.(Goodman, 2010) . Goodman then express that “wholesale” murder is wrong not just because of the magnitude of the situation but because of the willfully negating individuality, typing its victims, and stirring hatred against the putative failings of the type. (Goodman, 2009) Along with Genocide, germ warfare, and politically induced famine is used to target humanity at large, these techniques are used to destroy men, women and children. According to Mosser textbook “the relativists solution to conflict seems to be a recommendation of tolerance and the suggestion that understanding the values of other cultures will help us better appreciate, and respect, those cultures”. (Mosser page 23) The relativist thinking of warfare is that it is not always wrong; germ warfare is at times used to protect the people of the country against those who seek to destroy it. It also gets people out of that illusion that a war can be fought with guns alone but with different techniques that help create a faceless enemy.
Next in the article Goodman expressed his views of Terrorism; which is defined as premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents. “Terrorism is a tool that exploits the sanctity others give to human rights and manipulates a media appetite for sensation. It blackmails democracies, intimidates civil populations, reroutes tourists, and sends aid workers packing. It co-opts journalists and academics, broadcasting a Stockholm syndrome mentality onto the public at large, by holding the world hostage