Paul M Foster wrote:
> Levi Bard wrote:
>
>>> When sex becomes a casual thing, societies fall apart. Look at
>>> history, every
>>> single society where promiscuity is common place, is gone. I find it an
>>> excellent yardstick for how ethical a society is. Having travelled
>>> half the
>>> world it's served me well.
>>
>>
>> Every single society that predates the modern era is gone. I don't
>> think you can blame promiscuity for that; it's just the way it goes.
>> Also, please name for me some societies where promiscuity is *not*
>> commonplace - the only ones I can think of are in Muslim
>> fundamentalist theocracies.
>
>
> Promiscuity didn't cause it. It was an *indicator* of the pending
> demise of past societies. There were other indicators as well,
> generally related to a degradation of morality and ethics.
>
> You can't name current societies without rampant promiscuity (except
> for fundamentalist theocracies), because there *aren't* any currently.
Likewise, can you really point at ANY human society where that hasn't
been a problem?
Any society you designate may have the outward appearance of lacking
such behavior, but human nature dictates it _did_ happen, it just wasn't
documented.
Humans are animals. Understanding that is the first step in dealing with
our emergent behaviors.
Society is the facade we try to keep people from regressing to mob rule.
The more strict the control, arguably the more civil we are to one another.
There was a great article on primate "cops" keeping control of groups
that is applicable to this behavior:
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060126_monkey_cops.html
I'm all for a civil enlightened society.
I'm not fond, however, of people claiming that sex is purely "male
female procreation", and that anything else is "evil" or otherwise
"immoral". Human sexuality, like our primate cousins, and like most
other mammals, is far more diverse than this. Biology and evolution have
ensured this behavior is in the minority (we don't breed for those
behaviors, right?), but that behavior is something that is part of who
we are as a species. To ignore it or deplore it is ignorance, not
enlightenment.
To say "sex is not a casual thing" is also severely myopic.
Nothing in life is black and white. There are always varying shades of
grey. I don't pretend to have all of the answers, but I am willing to
listen, think about things a little, and adapt to the realities
presented to me the best I can. "Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you" is a pretty good summation of one of the primary morals for
any society.
- Ian C. Blenke <icblenke@nks.net>
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