Problem with the Golden Rule and my solution - “The Platinum Rule”.
By well-wisher
- 649 reads
The Golden Rule says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?”.
What if I strongly desire a person and would have them desire me; want to kiss that person and would want to have them kiss me and yet they do not desire me and do not want to be kissed.
Objection: You might argue, “But surely you would want that person to respect you and not kiss you without your consent?”.
Answer: If I desire that person then being kissed without my consent by that person might not be unpleasant to me. Even being viewed as no more than an object of desire by that person might not be unpleasant to me if that is how I want them to view me.
Objection: You might argue, “Well what if, instead of kissing you back, they were to kick you somewhere where it hurts?”.
Answer: But if I am not doing that unto them, why should they do that unto me and if they do do that unto me surely, according to the Golden Rule, I would also be within my rights to kick them.
Objection: You might argue, “Well some people might feel that being kissed without their consent hurts, emotionally, as much as being kicked somewhere painful”.
Answer: But what if hugging Person A felt to them like burning them or driving a nail into their flesh and they were hugged by Person B; would we really think it was acceptable for Person A to burn Person B or drive a nail into their flesh? Ultimately IS AN ACT EQUIVALENT TO HOW IT MAKES US FEEL or IS AN ACT NO MORE THAN WHAT IT IS? Is an unwanted kiss TRULY equivalent to being kicked somewhere painful. How many unwanted kisses could we sustain compared with unwanted kicks? How much injury would a thousand unwanted kisses do us and how much injury, a thousand unwanted kicks?
Then what is the solution:
Answer: Possibly this. If I can kiss one person without their consent then all people would be justified in kissing me without my consent which might result in me being constantly mobbed by lots of people, many of whom I am not attracted to, kissing me without my consent and that might possibly, after sometime, become unbearable. Therefore a better rule would be this,
Platinum Rule: “Do NOT do unto ONE what you would NOT have ALL do unto you”.
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Comments
I love the way that you twist
I love the way that you twist the logic to prove your points and then spin it again to make the reader look anew at erstwhile certainties. It's really good.
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