Fern's 'Where do I stand?' meme

[owl]

Abortion: Against. What's the difference between a 27-week premie in the neonatal unit and a 27-week aborted foetus? Nothing but whether his mother wanted him or not. There's no point where there's a change in the continuity of the foetus' development; all it really does after conception is grow. Who gave us the right to take our children's life on our hands?

Death Penalty?: Theoretically for. I think that murderers, having taken human life, have forfeited their own right to live. But one would have to be certain that it was murder and not manslaughter, and so on. In fact I would be so cautious that it would be very rare, in practice.

Prostitution?: Urgh. I think this has to be the most disgusting and degrading way of earning a living ever.

Alcohol?: CHCOOH. I don't drink, because I don't like it, but in moderation I think it's okay.

Marijuana?: I think people should be allowed to use it for medical reasons, and that it should undergo proper clinical trials.

Other drugs?: Stupid. Very very stupid, you have to be. Talk like Yoda I do.

Gay marriage?: I don't agree with non-Christians being married in church ceremonies anyway, because for them it is just a legal contract and not the Christian sacrament. Let's blame it all on the Church of England and the Pope. :-D

Illegal immigrants?: I don't see why it's such an issue in America. You have loads of space, everything's on so much larger a scale that immigrants are more easily absorbed. I think that the west shouldn't be exploiting countries so that people are forced to emmigrate. Share the wealth out a bit and everyone won't have to come running to where it is.

Drunk driving?: Take away their licence, and hope they only kill themselves when they crash and not some other poor soul.

Cloning?: I don't have any moral issues with it--identical twins are naturally occuring clones, after all. A clone would be a separate human individual from the 'original'. My problem is the scientific issues: animal clones often are born with deformities, it takes a lot of 'spare' embryos to create a full-term clone, and also they seem to age faster than a naturally born animal. Dolly the sheep had arthritis at three. It would be rotten for a human clone to be on a zimmer frame at 25.

Racism?: I don't see how people can be. I mean, i occasionally go off on rants about 'stupid idiot American tourists' or 'murderous Irish terrorists', but it's the stupidity and the murderousness I object to, not the Irish or American-ness of the parties in question. I mean, how can people make assumptions that just because they have a low level of melanin, they're better than people with more melanin? It's all the fault of Victorian Darwinists.

Premarital sex?: I think it's wrong.

Religion?: I hate that word. I don't have a religion, I have a God. I think everyone in the world should have freedom to practice their religion. Note that includes both freedon to convert from it, and freedon to evangleise/proselytise by none violent means.
I like to say I'm a practising Christian; I haven't quite got it right yet.

The war in Iraq?: I think it was a bad idea, not because I agree with Saddam's policies or for any idealogical reason, but from a purely pragmatic point of view. I didn't think it was going to work, to make things better for the Iraqi people. And looking at what's been happening lately, I don't know but that I was right. And there are other countries more dangerous to America, and other countries with more oppressive regimes than Saddam's. I think the oil has a lot to do with the decision to invade.

Bush?: However many of his morals issues I agree with (and it's not all of them, despite my stated conservative-ness), I think his economic and foreign policies are too closely tied up for my liking.

Downloading music?: Gives you viruses. I don't see the harm in downloading one or two songs, especially if they aren't available easily offline, but a whole album is bad. Legal downloads are a great idea, i think, or would if I weren't on a dial-up connection.

The legal drinking age?: Eighteen is the age over here, and I really don't know that waiting till twenty-one improves things any.

Porn?: Don't like it. I think it causes dissatisfaction with a relationship with any one, real woman, because who can live up to an array of Playmates? The real world's not like that.

Suicide?: It's exceedingly selfish, but I can see where suicidal people are coming from, and I think they should be helped.

Comments

[ivylore.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it was going to work, to make things better for the Iraqi people. And looking at what's been happening lately, I don't know but that I was right.

And considering that the U.S.'s plan is to install a democratic system in a country where the secularist 'minority' (30% or so) all previously supported Saddam - and the remaining 70% are primarily Sunni or Shiite...

Uh... What's wrong with this plan?????

Democracy = the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Celucci, dropping incessant veiled threats that Canada would face 'major trade problems' with the U.S. if it did not join a U.S. led coalition, and stating that Bush was 'deeply disappointed by our government'. This, despite the fact that 70% of Canadians were against the war. GRRRR!!!!

[owl]

It's the hypocrisy that annoys me. You can bet if Iraq had had no oil reserves, Saddam would still be cosily in power.

[alphabet26.livejournal.com]

Standard disclaimer: Not trying to be offensive, let me know if you don't want me to comment on these sorts of issues on your LJ and I will promptly keep it just on my own.

I didn't think it was going to work, to make things better for the Iraqi people. And looking at what's been happening lately, I don't know but that I was right.

I don't understand. Saddam Hussein went around killing and torturing and raping people. I know you're not saying that the U.S. troops are doing that. (There is no sarcasm in that statement. You are not saying that.) So...if Hussein is gone, and the Iraqi people don't have to be worried about being thrown into plastic chippers (http://right-thinking.com/comments.php?id=P792_0_1_0_C) (that article was from about a year ago) anymore...I can't help but think their lives are better. No, they don't all have running water or electricity right now. But I don't believe that situation will last. There are Iraqi citizens who have blogs! So it's not like the whole country is without amenities. It's only been a year. I just don't buy the argument, "Well, at least Saddam had the trains running on time" (or whatever variant is being thrown around).

[owl]

I know Saddam's regime was bad news, and that things are better for people now. But the coalition is pulling out in June. What happens then? How do you know any democracy the Americans set up is going to last? That Shi'ite cleric has far too much support for my liking. Look at the Marsh Arabs, down where the British forces are. Saddam persecuted them, drained their marshes, flooded their villages. The British are restoring the marshes, hiring contractors to build up sites for them to rebuild. But the sheik of the village said to reporters that if the Shi'ites in the north rose up, they would follow them, and attack the British soldiers who'd rebuilt their villages! Is it only the BBC that reports thiese things?
I think it's very likely that when the coalition pulls out, there's going to be a Muslim theocracy set up along the lines of Saudi Arabia, under the Muslim law--where you can be beheaded for converting, and beaten for owning a cassette tape. Iraq's Christian population actually think that they'd be better of under (secular) Saddam than under that sort of regime. Yes, it may be a democracy, in the sense that the majority of the population are Muslims. But if 70% of America's population decided that that kind of thing was okay, would you be happy?

[alphabet26.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, oh. I see.

But the coalition is pulling out in June.

Well...I don't know about the rest of the coalition forces, but Americans are definitely hanging around. Units from the National Guard and reserves are getting activated and sent out. Yes, I agree if we were just up and leaving, that would have only made the situation worse. But as my very left-leaning PoliSci teacher keeps pointing out, "Bush lied! We're not leaving by June!" I don't see that--us not leaving--as a bad thing, but hey.

Iraq's Christian population actually think that they'd be better of under (secular) Saddam than under that sort of regime.

Yeah, I totally see what you're saying now. And I honestly don't think America is going to let Iraq rule itself until they set up a system that protects the rights of the minorities. We started this mess and we have to fix it up.

It may sound condescending, but this is a country where there is no tradition of democracy, so it's going to take a while for them to get it right. Heck, America's been a democracy (well, republic, but it burns people's toasts to have to refer to themselves as republicans--lower case r) for over 200 years and we don't have it right.

I can totally see a law based on sharia getting set up and everything going bad very quickly. I don't think America is going to pull out until a theocracy is no longer an option.

Is it only the BBC that reports these things?

No. We get those images, too. What concerns me is that images and stories like this (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040419/481/jbm10204191624) aren't reported, either.

[wild-thistle.livejournal.com]

I'm curious, why are you against pre-marital sex? I respect that you feel that way, but I'm interested to know.

[owl]

I'm a Christian. I believe that it's better to wait till you're married. Even apart from the moral thing, you on't get diseases or have unmarried mothers.

Re: Fern's 'Where do I stand?' meme

[vader-incarnate.livejournal.com]

*waves at Cat* I found you! *grins* Your background is very nice, btw -- I have to figure out how to code at some point. :P

Very thought-provoking meme, Cat. All the issues certainly have a lot of things making it possible to pick either side; I admire your ability to form a coherent statement of your beliefs without fear of repercussions. :)

Hope you don't mind if I borrow it? *sheepish grin*

Re: Fern's 'Where do I stand?' meme

[owl]

Go ahead. I didn't invent it; fernwithy did. I'm merely a sheep. Welcome to LJ, btw!