Incidentally, as far as the title of the thread, I think that the best advice for anybody caught in a sex scandal is:
Take immediate ownership. Either “Yes, I did it” or a vague “For the sake of my family I will not comment other than to say I did something I very much regret”. DO NOT DENY IT IF IT’S TRUE!
I’ll never understand why a man who was as much a political animal as Clinton made that damned “I didn’t have improper relations with that woman” blunder. Had he come out and said “There is something in my private life I am not proud of, but it does not affect my presidency or my stance on political issues and for the sake of my wife and daughter I will not discuss it other than to say I am extremely remorseful”, I honestly think it would not have led to impeachment (especially since the public was overwhelmingly against impeachment proceedings anyway).
Remind people that you are human, apologize to those affected, and move on. People will forgive a sexual sinner much more willingly than they will a liar, and give it a few months and these things will pass over and the next sex scandal will bump you to the bottom of the thread. Of course not establishing yourself as a spokesperson for morality and self appointed public censor is a better start.
I once heard that if one yells loud enough about the wrong doings or sins of others, they won’t notice the sins of the yeller,strangely enough one does notice the person who yells;for the loudness calls attention to him, or herself. perhaps we could look at such things as a call for help, they know from experience of what they speak?
Nope, that’s a legal distinction, not a moral one. You’re aware those are not exactly the same concept, right?
(Checking forum … yes, this is the Pit) I can’t help wondering if your *own * gambling habit, one which you’ve actually bragged about here repeatedly, colors your own moral judgments about it. Could it just perhaps be that, like Bennett, you only think about and judge others’ behavior while remaining blind to your own? That you’re willing to claim something isn’t really immoral if you do it yourself?
If only the question had been “legal” vs. “moral”.
That’s what I said. “Principled.” Relying on a legitimate principle.
You respond as though I said there is a moral distinction to be made, and then refute me. Brilliant refutation of the strawman, not so much of the actual point.
No, I’m willing to own up to having done immoral things. I don’t agree my gambling is immoral, however. Certainly I wouldn’t trumpet the fact that I gamble so often if I were ashamed of it.
Gambling, per se, is never immoral. Under certain circumstances, gambling may lead to immoral or unwise actions. Betting $500 on a hand of blackjack, in and of itself, is not immoral. If you need that $500 for rent money, or mom’s chemotherapy, then we’re talking immorality… but it’s not the gambling, but the profligate dismissal of your financial responsibility that is at issue.
lotteries are gambling, casinos exist legally in certain places.
regulated does not mean something is illegal- gambling is one of a number of things regulated (booze, cigs, guns etc). bookies are running unregulated (hence illegal) games.
The gambling that’s under discussion in this thread (Bennett’s, and now mine) is legal gambling. I am perfectly willing to concede that, had Bennet been gambling illegally, he would be a hypocrite.
Of ocurse it does. One can easily say, for example, “The use of marijuana is a morally neutral act, but since it is illegal, and an arrest for it will have very negative consequences for your life, you should NOT USE MARIJUANA. Gambling, by contrast, where legal is perfectly fine, as long as it does not have negative consequences on your life.”
But given that it’s obviously much easier for you to counter arguments that you create for me, instead of actually addressing my arguments, I suppose your misquote is unsuprising.
As a matter of public policy, I don’t think your formulation is so terrible, by the way. Of course, it all depends how we define “hurt anybody.” Does prostitution hurt anybody? I argue it does; you may see things differently… and that’s a reasonable position to take, too.
I’m surprised you didn’t complain about being called an updated hippie.
"I’m not a hippie! I don’t have long hair or wear tie-dyed clothes! You’ve deliberately mischaracterized me!!
Your arguments have already been countered, shredded and flushed, but as long as you define the terms using Bricker’s Dictionary of Life[sup]TM[/sup], you will always “win”. :dubious:
From The Spirit of America, Chapter V: Industry and Frugality, p. 274:
(Bolding mine.)
He goes on in the chapter to agree strongly with Benjamin Franklin’s Plan for Moral Perfection, which includes the lines (p. 276):
In the introduction to the book, Bennet writes(p. 18):
It’s a bit disingenous, I think, to say that Bennet does not advocate the advice given by the stories and quotations he includes in his books. That he doesn’t follow it makes him a flaming hypocrite.
Purl, darlin’, if you hadn’t been told recently, you rule.
It’ll be interesting to see how frugality and waste nothing in fact mean “gamble away $8 million, hell, you can afford it!”, though I’ve no doubt Bricker will demonstrate that in fact they mean exactly that (and that, by the way, he himself gambles and can afford to lose $8,000, thus giving his argument extra traction).
