[MD] Flying Spaghetti Monsters

[Platt Holden]

Ham:

> This is why civilized societies adapt a code of morality to allow the
> pursuit of individual interests, so long as one's behavior does not
> offend or injure others or the society as a whole.

Offend? Everybody is taking "offense" at the most benign behavior these 
days as witness the left-wing media reaction to the supposed use of the 
n-word 30 years ago by George Allen, senator from Virginia.  As far as 
I know, there is no law in the U.S. against simply offending someone, . 
but so called "hate speech" laws are beginning to encroach on free 
speech, and, of course, political correctness enforced on college 
campuses outrageously smothers the free exchange of ideas. Offending 
someone may be discourteous, but hardly immoral.    

But, your critique of compassionate altruism should be posted in every 
school room in the country. It's always amazed me that someone could be 
so egoistic as to think she knows what would be good for somebody else. 
We should have learned a lesson from the Inquisition which had the best 
interest of its victims at heart, namely, to save their souls from 
eternal damnation.

Thus, your critique bears repeating:

> 1. Because man values his own life above all, it is the nature of man to
> be selfish.  Therefore selfishness cannot be immoral.
> 
> 2. Altruism implies paternalism -- the assumption that the individual
> knows the interests of others better than they do themselves.  This
> fosters dependence on the part of others and works against the
> altruist's natural self-interest.
> 
> 3. As applied to society, altruism establishes an artificial morality
> which reduces   individual motivation, minimizes the value of his
> contributions, and stifles development of his sense of moral goodness.
> 
> 4. Man is a self-determinate creature with the freedom to choose the
> values by which he lives.  Since morality is contingent upon related
> conditions, a "fixed" behavior-based morality system thwarts individual
> freedom.

Best regards,
Platt