[MD] A Place for the Principled Person

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

[Platt to Poot]
But my point was that to Marx the state (the collective) is everything. So to
suggest adultery does no harm to the state and is thus OK even though it can
harm individuals is a Marxian idea.

[Arlo]
Where in that Marx quote does it say its "okay to harm individuals"? In Marx's
thinking, such an open system would remove harm, not cause it. Indeed, it is to
Marx such a belief that a partner is "your property" that does more harm.

If your partner freely chooses monogamy with you, then Marx would have no
problem at all with that. If you use shame and humiliation to force your
partner into behaving as if "you owned her, and no one else can have her",
then, yes, Marx would have a problem with that.

And if your partner choose freely to NOT be monogamous, then that is between
you, your partner and your beliefs to decide what's best; to continue or to
disband. In any case, if you do no harm to me, why should I care. Aahhh...
besides cheap Victorian self-righteousness?

"Was it her love or THEIR hatred?" That is the question at the core of this
issue.

[Platt to Poot]
Perhaps as you read the Manifesto you'll be surprised that Marx also believed no
individual should own property. The collective should own everything.

[Arlo]
Marx went too far, but was right to be critical of mercantilistic language that
makes EVERYTHING, apparently including people and partners, into "property",
and EVERYTHING into a market commodity, including health and education. In
other words, the collective shouldn't "own everything", but "everything" is
also not something to "be owned". Its about balance. Harmony. Zen. :-)