Epigraph
A detour from the usual line of work. Enjoy..!!
It is ironical that western countries like US vehemently oppose any kind of discrimination amongst people yet a few decades ago, their constitution allowed for slavery and slave trading. Countries in Europe vigorously fight for women’s equality, yet in France women had to ask permission from their husbands to work until as recently as 1965. There are countries where women are not allowed to drive. Women’s suffrage was the primary reason for the first wave of feminism in the 1920s.
A lot of countries have, in recent history, conducted biological and chemical warfare experiments on POWs. The Rwanda genocide is etched in everyone’s memory. Ethnic cleansing is still going on in many countries. And regardless of the state’s involvement in these activities, it is evident that a state’s current policies cannot be used as a metric to gauge ethics.
Most well known thinkers assume and ratify that morality changes over the course of time. Something acceptable today might be opposed in the coming years as people become more open to accepting different opinions. But what they fail to accept is the fact that the bottomline of morality hasn’t changed since humans started evolving. Something considered inhumane 2000 years ago is still inhumane. Like murder, rape, blasphemy, buggery among other things.
The grey area of morality is what keeps switching sides. This might include homosexuality, polygamy, polyandry, slavery and anti-neo-feminism among other things. However IMO, the grey area is not exactly grey as it can be abridged to the right of personal choice and freedom, something all successful civilizations believe in. Yet many modern sovereigns states have usurped this right from their citizens based on religious intolerance and or social upkeep.
Modern nations have religiously opposed gay rights movement, waves of feminism, anti-warcrime movements and on some occasions, people have even been incarcerated for fomenting rebellions. All this is done in the semblance to maintain peace. Internally, this is done to keep the orthodox community in the society happy. And be that as it may, we have to make sure that the ethics related to governance should not be benchmarked by the current policies. The future generation is going to be more liberal and understanding than the present generation. There should be no limit to personal space and freedom, and benchmarking your current performance will exactly do that.
A better method for policy making in this aspect is not unknown. Public opinion should be considered when formulating laws. Some sort of a plebiscite should be a viable alternative to record public opinion. This in turn will be used by lawmakers in the final decision making.
However, in a nutshell, policy makers don't want liberal public policies but stable public policies. Policies that are acceptable to the modern as well as the orthodox community.
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