Morality Question....

[KensPen]

The Michael Jackson case has brought forth a moral question I have pondered before.

In my mind doing something to a child is the worst thing you can do. Pedophelia surpasses all crimes in my opinion.

so...

If a person has these type urges BUT resists and never acts upon them
are they

Evil for having such thoughts
or
a Saint for resisting them?

[Bertha Venation]

1. neither

They're disturbed or ill for having them, and responsible for resisting them. Nothing more nor less.

Speaking as a survivor, let me put in my two cents on the whole Jackson thing: innocent until proven guilty.

[ThePeat]

5. Well said

[Bertha Venation]

10. welcome to DU

:hi:

[grannylib]

16. I agree, and welcome to DU!

[Sir_Shrek]

2. Wow...ummm....

This is tough on a lot of levels.

I don't think you can be lauded for resisting such thoughts, or even making light of them. But I don't think you can punish one for simply having them but not acting on them or openly revealing them. We can't see into other peoples hearts and minds, and shouldn't try to do so. It's one thing that the guy down the street is openly perverted when it comes to young children and promotes such ideas, but it's tougher if you only suspect it and not know it to be true (through evidence or otherwise). In those cases, the best you can do is remain vigilant.

[VelmaD]

3. Good and evil have nothing to do with it

I have a lot of respect though for people who have the urges and are responsible enough not to act on them.

These people are mentally ill - which does not excuse the behavior of those who act on the urges and hurt a child. They need treatment and all the help they can get in learning ways to not act on those urges.

[wysi]

6. the difficulty is...

... that there is no effective treatment. Detention seems to be the only workable solution at the moment.

[TXlib]

20. Dentention is the only workable solution...

for those who are unable to control themselves.

There are undoubtedly pedophiles who are not child molesters, just as there are alcoholics who are not drunks.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. SOME religions' ideology of "guilty by thinking only" is EVIL

And responsible for much unnecessary grief.

[wysi]

7. If...

... we were evil for merely having thoughts about doing something evil, then I'm afraid that we're all evil. :-)

[Redleg]

8. The person having those impulses should get professional help.

Unfortunately, the person may not seek therapy because of the taboo nature of the sexual obsession and the shame they believe they would experience if they were to discuss this with someone else (not to mention the fear of being turned-in to the officials).

[Westegg]

9. doing/not doing

If you want to molest children regularly, but never do it---you've still got a problem. Healthy people don't ever want to molest children.

But when the law gets involved in sex, I guess it becomes tricky, technically speaking. For example: When I was 17, and my girlfriend was 16, we had sex. A year later, when I was 18 and she was 17, and we had sex, I guess I was legally guilty of a crime. Yet we were both a year older, a year wiser. Loved each other even more. That was OUR reality, but it wasn't the legal reality.


Someone help me out with this.

[Lisa0825]

11. I thought in most states, there had to be at least a 2 year age diff.

for it to be illegal?

[Westegg]

12. Maybe you're right...

I don't know about that. But okay, take the situation of the 15-year-old boy or girl and his/her 17-year old lover. Next year, he/she is 16, and the lover is 18. Technically, isn't this the rape of a child? (And let's not get into whether 15-year-olds should be having sex; they probably shouldn't be, but as we all know, they often do, and in any case that's not my point.)

[Kamika]

13. MJ is innocent!!

He's just too nice for his own good, ppl that are nice these days sadly gets exploited these days.

[scottcsmith]

14. Thoughts are just that: thoughts

Believe me, when I have a psychotic episode, all sorts of crazy shit comes into my brain. That doesn't make me a bad person or evil for having the thoughts. Acting on them is a different matter.

[izzie]

15. Well it is a world wild thing treating children bad.

From starving, inslaving them and God only knows what else.It seem only some children are treated good. I can recall in college that social science were wondering what would happen when Millions of these half feed children grew up with no education and would have to take there place in a modern world. In history these children usually died but now they were being kept alive and just alive, An awful thought so I do not get to up tight about maybe Jackson did something.Looks to me he is a nut case and someone is after his money.

[info being]

17. Good and evil is defined by consequences

Therefore, when a person does not act on his thoughts, there is no action, there are no consequences, and absolutely no moral judgement can be made.

[Bertha Venation]

19. hmmmm.... n/t

[Redleg]

22. Intentions don't count?

Consequences is only part of the moral equation.

[SOteric]

18. I have spent my life being taught

a responsible and caring religion which espouses the belief that good and evil are the sole judgement of God and not the personal business of any members of the human race.

As a thinking person, I believe that correct. If there is an omniscient being, then that being is in a far better place than I to judge the inner-workings, the private thoughts, the balance of good and ill an individual achieves in a life time. The best that I could manage from a human perspective is an educated guess. That guess would likely be filtered through human emotion and personal experience: In the end, it would be highly suspect.

What's important to know is how the subject affects one's personal life and dealings. How does the issue of good or ill in regard to pedophilia affect your life, KensPen? What do you truly need to determine, and what should be the meter for your judgement.

[Character Assassin]

21. A molested child can recover and live on. A murder victim cannot.

While there's life, there's hope.