Would this woman date you? (Political...very political)

[DSeid]

@wonky

Ethics are an abstract. Politics are ethics brought into the physical world. Politics are the decisions you make that reveal your ethical beliefs.

As are your decisions in your work, social, and home lives. Heck everything you do are the decisions you make that reveal your ethical beliefs. Politics no more and no less so than whether tell your sister about what your brother said. Political beliefs are not special ethical cases.

In real life most of us mostly agree with the basic values that go into calculating the decisions that are ethical choices, and we disagree about the details based on different assumptions we hold and understanding the inputs to those decisions differently, maybe even weighting them differently.

IMHO we do poorly when we smugly presume that someone who disagrees the ethical calculations and balances that we have made is de facto “morally inferior” and that we are automatically oh so morally superior to those with other opinions.
And as far as compromise and ethics go, compromise regarding and between conflicting moral principles is what real world ethics is all about. Think trolley problem (as well illustrated in The Good Place).

[wonky]

@DSeid

As are your decisions in your work, social, and home lives.

Of course.

[MaxTheVool]

@amarinth

I disagree that I’m changing your hypothetical.
I’m pointing out that in your hypothetical for you, Taco Tuesdays are important and dearly held. For me they’re life-and-death. I must assume that either you don’t know how critical they are for me, or that you do know and are willing to sacrifice them (and consequently sacrifice me) anyway. And that does happen quite frequently - an issue that is important to me is vital to someone else.
I think “I’m willing to compromise on this” is a strong statement about my beliefs and ethics - especially when I’m aware of the consequences.

Sure, I don’t disagree with any of that. But this thread of a conversation started because of the claim that politics are the “purest” expression of ethics. I disagree. I think they’re an incredibly muddled and difficult expression of ethics, for any number of reasons.

[msmith537]

@MaxTheVool

Sure, I don’t disagree with any of that. But this thread of a conversation started because of the claim that politics are the “purest” expression of ethics. I disagree. I think they’re an incredibly muddled and difficult expression of ethics, for any number of reasons.

I would also agree. Not the least of which is because politics, in practice, is seldom black or white nor are policies uniformly beneficial or harmful to everyone.

As for the woman in the OP…she wishes.

[Taber]

@MaxTheVool

Sure, I don’t disagree with any of that. But this thread of a conversation started because of the claim that politics are the “purest” expression of ethics. I disagree. I think they’re an incredibly muddled and difficult expression of ethics, for any number of reasons.

Sure, but that was about a list of political positions, on the axis of politics that’s more pure ethics (economic issues do entail ethics as well, but there’s also a lot of math, and difference of opinion there are as likely to be differences in knowledge than differences of ethics), and doesn’t have the compromises that choosing a candidate entails

[MaxTheVool]

@Taber

Sure, but that was about a list of political positions, on the axis of politics that’s more pure ethics (economic issues do entail ethics as well, but there’s also a lot of math, and difference of opinion there are as likely to be differences in knowledge than differences of ethics), and doesn’t have the compromises that choosing a candidate entails

I dunno… I feel like “treat everyone with respect” is pure ethics, and “gay marriage should be legal” is reasonably close to pure ethics (note the distinction between “gay marriage should be legal” vs “I support HR 124.27, the legalize gay marriage bill”), but once you get to the level of real-world specificity of “you should support the BDS movement in Israel” you’ve strayed just as far from pure ethics into compromise-laden politics as when choosing a political candidate.