Inventory of Personal Views 2007

I'm sitting at my computer going through the incredibly protracted process of choosing areas that I want data for on the Neighbourhood Statistics portion of the National Statistics website- instead of being able to simply choose 'All Middle Layer Super Output Areas*', you have to, as far as I can tell, go through a big list and select them all. The list is a hierarchical list that starts with big regions like North East, North West and so on, and you have to click a plus symbol by the region to get the district in that region- only some districts are located inside counties inside the region with their own plus symbol. There is another plus symbol to be clicked by each district, and that gets you down to the Middle Layer Super Output Area level, and thankfully instead of ticking the box by each of those to include it you can tick a box that includes all the Middle Layer Super Output Areas for that district. But that still means clicking on the plus symbol for every one of three hundred and fifty districts, plus of course a fair few counties, and each region. And clicking on the minus symbol for each one afterwards before moving onto the next (if you don't then eventually it tells you you have too many open). Doesn't sound too onerous? Well, it seems to take up to a minute to reload after clicking each plus, after ticking the box, and after clicking the minus. At three minutes per district, you can see why it might take several hours to complete.

Anyway, I'm taking the opportunity of all that waiting for it to load to do an Inventory of Personal Views. It's something I wish I'd done years ago when my opinions were still being formed and changed a lot more rapidly than they do now- it would have been interesting to look back on. As it is, this is the first time I've done it- but I had the idea last January or February, only I'd just missed New Year then so thought I'd wait.

I'd just like to stress that, however certainly phrased, what follows are just my own opinions.

Inventory of Personal Views

Abortion
I don't think I have a problem with abortion- though I might feel differently were I actually pregnant. At any rate I think it's important that the law lets women choose what they think is right. The question of the father's involvement is more problematic- what if the woman doesn't want to keep the child but the father does? It's her body, so does he have the right to compel her to carry the child to term and give birth? But it's his child too, so does she have the right to kill it? I'm not sure.

Capital Punishment
No. Capital punishment is just wrong- even for someone like Saddam Hussein.

Child Pornography
Assuming non-child pornography to be fine (but see below):
If no children were involved in the making of it, ie it's a drawing entirely from the artist's imagination, I think that's probably ok.
If it's a drawing or photo using actual child models, but not being harmed in any way, just pictured naked, then I'm not sure- rationally it's not hurting them if they don't know about it but it still doesn't feel quite right.
If children were raped or otherwise hurt in its making, then it's definitely wrong

Contraception
Fine- no problem with it, in any form.

Corporal Punishment
Against it, I think, but not really strongly and passionately- that is to say, I probably am strongly and passionately against its use on a very frequent basis but only mildly against its extremely occasional (say once in a childhood) use. However I'm probably really not qualified to pass a judgment untill I've brought up children myself.

Drugs (Illegal)
Certainly I'm against them, but mostly because they just seem like a Very Bad Idea, partly on health grounds and partly because getting yourself into a position of addiction where you're dependent on something seems like one to avoid. Though I'll admit to consuming a fair bit of alcohol which of course is no health tonic- I think many drugs are worse but I recognise that in some cases it's debateable so the first part may seem hypocritical. Anyway, morally I don't see a problem with drugs in themselves, but their current illegal status means that the supply chains they go through are often rather dodgy and so using them can equate to funding organised crime and supporting human rights abuses in countries such as Colombia. I think. So practically speaking, it is in fact morally wrong to use them. As for legalisation, I'm not quite sure any more- I used to think that people had the right to choose whether or not to harm themselves, and I still do, but now I also think it's not as simple as that. Maybe currently illegal drugs should only be legalised if effective policies can be put in place to encourage people to choose not to use them. I would like to think that if drugs were legalised conditions would be better for people along the supply chain, but sadly I'm not totally convinced that's the case.
I also think smoking is a bad idea, but obviously that's not immoral

Education
I'm for as much streaming as possible, so that students can learn at their own pace, rather than the brightest kids getting bored going over the same stuff, or those who find it harder being left behind. So I used to think it would be best to have selective schools, with further streaming within these. Now I'm realising the problems with that: for a start I don't want children to only mix with others of a similar ability, and for another thing, what about a child who's brilliant at maths but has real problems even learning to read? There probably won't be very many with wildly differing ability levels in different subjects, but there will be some and they need to be catered for too- no school that is set up with only a narrow ability range in mind will suit them. And then there's the problem that the children at the lower level schools will feel stigmatised- and quite apart from the effect on their feelings that isn't conducive to achieving their best. So now I'm wondering if very very large schools with many sets for each subject based on ability would be better. It would deal with the first two problems if not the third. It should also have an ethos that suggests that traditional academic subjects are not the only things of value, but should also place emphasis on sport, art and music, and at secondary level vocational subjects. Most people will be good at something- and after all in the real world, things like carpentry, hair dressing or plumbing are just as important and worthwhile.

Euthanasia
Not sure. Euthanasia where a doctor or relative just decides that a patient who can no longer communicate is suffering too much and that the time has come to bring things to an end is almost certainly a bad idea. Euthanasia where someone decides to die but is too ill to be able to commit suicide is trickier. I'm inclined to think it should be allowed- but on the other hand, although I agree that suicide should be legal, I still think that one should in most cases try to stop someone from comitting suicide if in a position to. Euthanasia is a bit different because the person in question may be in terrible pain, and may be going to die soon anyway- but there is always the possibility that if they are not killed they may be thankfull later to still be alive after all. Admittedly it's not going to happen in very many cases, but still. And what if they change their mind but become unable to communicate and thus prevent it? Then there is the problem of people saying they want to die simply to avoid being a burden. However, on the whole I think it probably should be allowed as the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Free Speech
I suppose there have to be some limits to it, but I would like to place them as far back as possible. Generally I think people should be allowed (by law) to voice things such as racist comments or disrespectfull insults to other people's religions, but I wish that people wouldn't want to make use of that right. That doesn't mean that people who want to say things like that should have to be given a platform to do so however, or that no-one should attempt to stop them doing so. They just shouldn't be arrested for it is all.

Global Warming
Definitely happening- I believe there is general scientific consensus, in spite of what many people think. And we definitely need to do something about it.

Green Taxes/ Carbon Credit Schemes
Something along those lines needs to happen; I like the carbon credit idea best because it seems fairest- and there is the possibility of actually receiving money if you can live efficiently enough!

Israel
The creation of Israel was a mistake, because of what it meant for those non-Jews already living there who had to resettle, but it's here now and it wouldn't be right to get rid of it, even were that possible. But it needs to keep to the originally agreed boundaries, recognise Palestine's existence, and stop its human rights abuses.
Ideally, it would be nice if it could be a jointly Arab and Jewish country with shared power... no, I know that's not going to happen.

Life after Death
Rationally speaking, I believe no. But strangely I find myself subconsciously assuming yes quite frequently- a result of a vaguely religious upbringing, I suppose.

Men vs Women
Certainly neither gender is superior. And 99.9%** of things can be done equally well by your average man or your average woman (those which can't being things like certain sports for which a different body type makes a difference, or male and female roles in ballet, about which the same is probably true). That said, men and women are not the same. The non-anatomical differences may all be down growing up in and living in a society which treats the genders differently, but even if they don't actually have to be there the reality is that they are, and I will, largely subconsciously, interact in a different way with men to women (of course there is the possibility that this could be more due to my growing up and living in a society which treats men and women differently than due to said society having produced actual differences...)

Other Races
Apart from, again, physical differences that are only relevant in an extremely limited range of contexts such as sport, people from all races are exactly the same. The differences that we observe in people from other countries are entirely down to culture, and if for example a white child is brought up by black African Muslims, or a Japanese child by a white British family then (provided the children are treated no differently from any other child, which admittedly is a bit of a big if) the white child will differ from a black African Muslim solely and purely in looks, and the Japanese child will differ from a white Briton solely and purely in looks.

Other Cultures
As I say, cultures are the important difference between different peoples, not race. And unlike with race, clearly all cultures, and people from all cultures, once you get past certain fundamental things, are not the same. However, with a few caveats, they are all equal and all valid. Those caveats are: 1 No part of a culture which involves the abuse of human rights should be considered good, valid, or worthy of preservation- but the rest of that culture is still important and valid and should not be lost
2 Not all truths are equal. Though the culture of a lost tribe in the Amazon may be neither superior nor inferior to Western culture, that doesn't mean that the tribe's understanding of how disease is caused (for example) is neither superior nor inferior to the Western scientific understanding.
As for the preservation of cultures, as I say, all cultures are worthy of preservation- but it's not as simple as that, because a culture relies on people, and aspects of a culture neither can nor should be preserved if the people concerned want to change them. Though I would be sad to see a single global monoculture, and I hope that people of individual cultures will recognise what's valuable about their way of life and not wish to lose it, but only to adapt it.

Pornography
Harmless enjoyment or exploitation or women? I incline towards the former, but I'm not sure. Of course pornography that consists of, for example, a drawing from the artist's imagination using no models, or written pornographic fiction is surely fine.

Prostitution
Again, I'm not sure. I would imagine that few if any prostitutes consider their occupation to be their ideal career, and certainly there should be help available to try to provide other options in the first place, and to existing prostitutes. But is it immoral? I think not, but it's not a strongly held belief.

Religion
I'm an agnostic tending towards the atheistic side, at least on paper- but I do often find myself subconsciously assuming that God exists, and that there is life after death; I'm hoping that that will gradually go because it's at odds with my conscious beliefs.
As for other people's religions, well, when I was religious myself I believed that all religions worship the same God in different ways, and that the reason for these different ways is not that one is right and the rest are wrong but that people are different. Thus all are equally valid- provided they do not involve abuse of human rights (which very few do). Now that I'm almost sure God doesn't exist, I still believe the above in the unlikely event that in fact he does.
Even if one religion were right and the rest wrong, since we can't know with absolute certainty which one it is that's correct, other people's religions should still be treated with respect. And even if it was certain which religion was right, that would still be the correct approach- even though in that case it would be in other people's interests to convert, their current beliefs should still be treated respectfully, and they should be left to take the decision to abandon them themselves- if only because active efforts in that direction are likely to be counter productive.
That said, I do find it very hard to practise what I preach and be respectfull towards the beliefs of fundamentalists of any religion.

Sex outside of Marriage
Fine

Sex outside a Relationship
Certainly not immoral, but probably not for me purely on grounds of personal preference

Torture
In itself, certainly a very bad thing that should not happen. But I'm not quite sure about the hypothetical situation where you have terrorists who know the location of a bomb, and the question is should you torture them to make them reveal it, thus allowing you to disable it and save massive loss of life and injury? I think maybe if you can be 100% sure that they will reveal the location under torture, and if you can be 100% sure that the suffering you are causing them is less than the suffering that would be caused by the bomb, then yes. But in the real world, you can't be sure they'll give up the information, and you can't be sure the suffering will be less- it's hard to measure, especially when you have different degrees of suffering and different numbers undergoing that suffering. So I suppose in the real world the answer is probably no.
I'm shocked and appalled by what has been happening in places like Guantanamo Bay. There is no question that that is wrong.

Terrorism
Of course terrorism is wrong. But what I mean by this heading is 'What is the proper approach to terrorism?' I don't have anything like a complete answer, but I do think that too much effort put into attempting to prevent it can be a bad thing. For one thing, it puts the civil liberties of everyone in the country at risk. And yes, civil liberties are worth preserving even at the expense of lives. After all, we are prepared to accept deaths as the cost of being able to move around fast and conveniently- since we could prevent all road accidents by banning cars, but most of us would not even consider that as an option. And civil liberties are even more important. The other problem is that groups that were not in fact persecuted to begin with can end up being persecuted in the process of trying to prevent terrorism, which can lead to a legitimate grievance which a tiny minority may then decide to pursue in illegitimate ways- in other words an increase in terrorism.

The Islamic Veil
Muslim women have a perfect right to wear the full veil if they want to, but I wish they didn't want to. And if they don't want to, no-one has the right to make them, so laws in some Muslim countries which make wearing the veil compulsory are wrong. So are cases in countries where it's not compulsory but a woman feels she should wear one even though she doesn't want to.

War in Iraq
I'm now against it. It seems to have caused more suffering than allowing Saddam Hussein's regime to continue would have (yes, I know that's not what it was about). And I'm horrified that a war that my country has taken part in has involved the appalling practices in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, and the use of the death penalty on the former leaders.

*don't ask

**No, this is not a rigourously calculated statistic. I made it up.