Brave thinker, what if we leveled the full weight of reason, in an intellectual honesty critique of our own beliefs not leaving any free of rebuilding or disbelief. A thinker who earnestly directs, analyses, and challenges their own beliefs is brave. For it is better to search not like one with a belief to prove, no, first one must drill down into the belief exposing any and all flaws and if there is be willing to address it or remove it.
Self-ownership, Human Rights, and Societal Liberty or Freedoms
Humanistic Simplicity: “don’t do harm and do help.”
Fairness, thus an equality of respect, seems to hold a high status in the call for justice.
Atheism is silly Damien…
My response, (Atheism is a freedom from the mental trap of theism fantasies and errors in thinking) You have to be joking, it is theism and its lack of any proof that is silly. Atheism is not believing evidence devoid claims like gods. Furthermore, atheism if it can be said to believe in something it’s only believing in observable real-world evidence or demonstrable natural reality, so the same things proven by science. Yes, so crazy… Please give me a break.
Hey religious people, don’t let your religious freedom become your children’s religious oppression.
The reason the scientific method assumes methodological naturalism (the assumptions that there is only natural without supernatural) is that there is no magic anything evident in reality at every level in every test ever done all over the earth from the beginning of science testing even when minds wished for magic. The saying “you only live once” is true and misleading; as you live a little every day, thus it’s more like, you only die once. So, my fellow unbelievers be good to yourselves and others; and by all means, live it up. Theist threats of hell and a call to fear a god for an atheist would be like a child asking you to believe that the dark itself is actually somehow dangerous because they invent dark as a dangerous reality out of nothing. But why as a reasonable thinker talk of the dark as a danger in itself, any reasonable adult knows this is irrationalism not any more real than the emotionalism it creates. This is similar to the irrationalism and emotionalism of a child-like fear driven belief that makes one invent gods out of nothing which they then come to fear. One is not any more reasonable to grab the wind than to think they found facts of gods.
“Dream World”
How can I sum up something so encompassing into words so small? You will hear my passion for our planet; it has it all, every cloud, every mountain, every valley, every stream, our world is like a dream. The earth has so much life to give it is a sparkle in my eye giving me such a reason to live. Just look around, wonder from the sky to the ground. A world so alive and free, so many strong growing trees and such deep and teaming seas. I want to see all of these, so please love and care for the world in which we live in for it’s the only one we’ve been given.
A wise person can even learn from things some people think are stupid.
A stupid person cannot even learn from someone who is wise.
We who are good, shine no matter the darkness.
My reasoning about what makes a universal ethic is in depth, in general, it is meta-ethics driven and is best expressed in a multi modality application with a heavy axiology influence. But here is a simpler standard to adhere to when moral reasoning is used to grasp what makes a universal ethic. We can do this by taking clues from the ideas of universal ethics according to Fred E. Foldvary, from the book The Soul of Liberty: The Universal Ethic of Freedom and Human Rights. According to Fred E. Foldvary, the three main criteria that any possible exploration to establish what makes a universal ethic must satisfy:
1. Comprehensiveness: it must discern right and wrong for all possible ethical situations.
2. Objectivity: it must, as an objective ethic, be independent from any authority or culture.
3. Universality: it must, as a permanent and universal ethic, apply to mankind as a whole and to all individual human beings, in all times and places.
These three criteria – comprehensiveness, objectivity, and universality – imply other qualities too, such as rationality, uniqueness, absoluteness, and naturalness (derived from nature). These are our premises and requirements. Some say I or other atheists and rationalists have faith in reason. No, I don’t have faith in reason, instead, Reason is a well Known demonstrated method of human thinking; as in its assists in a higher level of accuracy and reliability than unreasonable thinking. And some wonder why I am an I am a feminist? Well, because of many things but most of all because in my mind I become “women” when they suffer or are fighting for rights, just as I too try to become, in my mind, any and all peoples who are oppressed, suffering, or are fighting for rights. We are all valuable beings of dignity and we rise by helping each other.
THE SOUL OF LIBERTY: The Universal Ethic of Freedom and Human Rights.
By FRED E. FOLDVARY 1980
For freedom and human rights to mean anything, they must be specific principles founded on the bedrock of a fixed ethic. “Harm” should not be whatever the authorities don’t happen to like, but must be defined by the ethic in a manner that can be applied to all moral issues. Ethics is to human relations what health is to life. The rules of health tell us how to avoid sickness and death, and the rules of ethics tell us how to be free from social illness, injustice, exploitation, and crime. We must start with dignity and self-ownership for all in this endeavor. Our political, economic, and social problems are ultimately moral questions. Consider these examples:
Do people have a right to food, shelter, and health services?
Do parents have the right to raise their children as they wish?
Should people of any amount or kind be allowed to marry and divorce at will?
How should scarce resources be distributed?
Should writing or art ever be censored?
Should prostitution be prohibited or restricted?
Should there be any laws at all concerning sex?
Should people be allowed to ingest any drug they wish?
Do animals have any rights?
Are extremes of wealth inherently immoral?
Should a business be allowed to make as much profit as it wants?
Should we have capital punishment?
Should we permit people to kill themselves? ref
Dear of Seed of Hate, I no longer love you.
Where did the seeds of hate come from you may ask: well, “That is only mine”, “only they are me”, “they are only allowed there” “only they are allowed this/that” or “only I matter”, all of which have quite often sent a seed of hate in the world and we have been responding to them for years on end. Who is wrong? Once I was wrong. And then wrong again. In fact, I have been wrong all my life. One has not found truth if they believe that they are never wrong. I am sure this plague of my side bias is a fantastic way of not learning new-truth, if that matters to you? Dear thinkers welcome you’re being completely shown to be wrong, as who wants to spend another second believing a lie. You don’t honestly want to believe lies or half-truths do you?
Let me explain why as an axiological atheist (value theory atheist) even the belief in the concept of god is ethically vile to me. God belief is inherently immoral to me it is the belief that supports an all-powerful being who willfully allows suffering, something that no ethical person would tolerate if they had the ability to do otherwise. Moreover, a common attribute of god belief is support of this claimed greater being of high intelligence and self will forcing its will and standards on other beings of high intelligence and self-will. This force is unethical and abusive to the rights of humanity. Furthermore, many who subscribe to this force abusive relationship god claim an even more revolting ethical atrocity called hell where eternal horror and suffering is dished out by direct will of the claimed stronger immoral god being against the defenseless undeserving subjugated humanity. Thus, being one who values rights and ethics, it sickens me to even speak of such willful misconduct of justice.
THE SOUL OF LIBERTY: “The Universal Ethic of Freedom and Human Rights” By Fred E. Foldvary
Justice in the Workplace: morality/ethical dimensions
Axiological Dignity: “Value Consciousness vs Value-Blindness”
Why care? Because we are Dignity Beings. Utilizing Dignity? Dignity = respect?
Moral fear and Moral love (which together motivate my axiological ethics)?
How Do I Gain a Morality Persuasion or Make a Change to it?
T.R.U.E. “The Rational Universal Ethics”
Self-ownership: Abortion, Genital Mutilation, Prostitution, Drugs, and the Right to Die
Self–ownership (or sovereignty of the individual, individual sovereignty or individual autonomy) is the concept of property in one’s own person, expressed as the moral or natural right of a person to have bodily integrity, and be the exclusive controller of his own body and life.
In a general sense the concept of rights means that an individual, and by extension all people in society are justified in rejecting force agent themselves or using force to defend themselves or others in certain circumstances from human rights violations, “self-ownership violations” meaning “the individual owns themselves and thus has rights to their body and what interacts with it or how it is used (self-governed body).” This is something that very few people would dispute, and thus the concept of human rights or self-ownership basically highlights the thinking connected to ones right to life as well as how that life is used. “Self-ownership” can thus be interpreted as meaning: we have individual body sovereignty, we have moral legitimacy to our rights in our bodies and our liberty s connected to this understanding, we are the only ones who (should) have control over ourselves, we are self-ownership agents on equal standing with every other self-ownership agent in society. Therefore, “Self-ownership” is the capacity to live wholly in accordance with the full and free exercise of our private judgment about and to our body. Ref
“Self-ownership” can be thought of as a person’s self-management and can thus be interpreted as supported under: Civil liberties “sovereignty of the individual”.
Civil liberties are personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge, either by law or by judicial interpretation without due process. Though the scope of the term differs amongst various countries, some examples of civil liberties include the freedom from torture, freedom from forced disappearance, freedom of conscience, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the right to security and liberty, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the right to equal treatment under the law and due process, the right to a fair trial, and the right to life. Other civil liberties include the right to own property, the right to defend oneself, and the right to bodily integrity. In America, we not only have Bill of Rights a collective name for amendments to the United States Constitution states have a constitution such as a bill of rights, or similar constitutional documents that enumerate and seek to guarantee civil liberties. Likewise, there is the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Ref
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (abolished slavery and involuntary servitude) is sometimes viewed as an implementation of the concept of self-ownership, as are some portions of the Bill of Rights. Ref
“Self-ownership” can be thought of as involving a person’s bodily integrity which is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy and the self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. It considers the violation of bodily integrity as an unethical infringement. Ref
I will address the issues of abortion, genital mutilation, prostitution, drugs, and the right to die.
Abortion
The main argument of the anti-abortion or anti-choice movement boils down to this: a human zygote, blastocyst, embryo, or fetus is a human being with a right to life, and abortion is, therefore, murder of a human being. Anti-choicers must claim that fetuses are human beings, of course, or they really have no case against abortion. However, the stages of embryonic development: A zygote is a single-celled fertilized egg. A blastocyst is the fertilized egg after cell division. At implantation, it becomes an embryo through to the eighth week of development, and a fetus from eight weeks to birth. The common law rule is that a fetus is not considered a living human being until it has been born alive. Therefore, if a defendant kills a pregnant woman he can only be charged with one count of murder for killing the mother, but no charges can be brought against him for the death of the fetus. Some jurisdictions have moved even farther than that and have defined murder as the unlawful killing of a human being or fetus with malice aforethought. Notice how human being and fetus are separate? That’s because a fetus is not a person. Ref Ref I think it’s the mother’s choice to decide what she wants to do with her body grin emoticon. If she wants to keep it, let her keep it. If she wants to abort it, let her abort it. The word murder is a legal clarification on killing (someone who is a human ie born) unlawfully. I do think to terminate a pregnancy by means of a kind of killing but so is the cow, pig, and chicken I ate in the last two days. They are not murder and neither is abortion. Some say even a dead body has rights. so a human zygote, blastocyst, embryo, or fetus should two, however, this is wrong and seems to misunderstands so-called rights of the dead just as they seem to confuse what or who is owed human rights as a person.
The Rights of the Dead is more accurately stated the Rights of Survivors. In general, the legal rights of the next of kin include: the right to immediately possess the remains for burial, the right to oppose disinterment, the right to oppose autopsy or organ donation, and the right to seek damages for mutilation of the body. Who counts as next of kin? As a general matter, both common law and state statutes give first preference to spouses in determining what will happen to the deceased. If there is no spouse, decision-making authority goes by the same consanguinity rules that apply to inheritance. Legal disputes have arisen where same-sex partners or unmarried lovers are excluded from these decisions.
Well, it’s not a viable being outside of the mother and as it’s not born it’s not yet actually a citizen of anything. As in if the mother travels, the baby could be born in a different state or country creating different issues.
A late termination of pregnancy often refers to an induced ending of pregnancy after the 20th week of gestation. The exact point when a pregnancy becomes late-term, however, is not clearly defined. Premature babies born at 22 weeks are more likely to survive outside the womb than previously thought, according to new research.
And 89-92% of all abortions happen during the first trimester, prior to the 13th week of gestation (AGI/CDC).
In 2012, 7.2% of all abortions occurred between 14-20 weeks’ gestation; 1.3% occurred ≥21 weeks’ gestation (CDC). Evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited but indicates that fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester.” The third trimester begins at 27 to 28 weeks from conception.
So the fetus is not an aware sovereign being or citizen to suppress the rights of the who is both an aware sovereign being and a citizen with both human rights and government entitled citizen protection. Likewise, the fetus is being aborted before it can experience with the pain of death or some connected response to it. Ref
I strive to be a good human ethical in both my thinking and behaviors thus I strive to be:
Anti-racist, Anti-sexist, Anti-homophobic, Anti-biphobic. Anti-transphobic, Anti-classist, Anti-ablest, Anti-ageist, and as Always Antifascist!
In fact, I want to strive to avoid as much as I can bigoted thinking towards others based on their perceived membership or classification based on that person’s perceived political affiliation (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), sex/gender, beliefs (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), social class (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), age, disability, religion (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), sexuality (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), race, ethnicity, language (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), nationality, beauty, height, occupation (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), wealth (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics), education, sport-team affiliation, music tastes or other personal characteristics (Well: within reason, justice, and ethics).
Although, I am a “very”, yes, VERY strong atheist, antitheist as well as antireligionist, My humanity is just as strong and I value it above my disbeliefs. My kind of people are those who champion humanity, the one’s who value kindness, love justice, and support universal empowerment for all humans, we are all equal in dignity, and all deserve human rights, due self-sovereignty.
Genital Mutilation
I am pro-body sovereignty and rights against forced or nonconsent genital mutilation in females, males, as well as intersex persons. I am against the Genital Mutilation of All Children Girls and Boys. First for me as in all things: people own themselves, thus have all rights to their body to use as they wish. Children have the right to body sovereignty and bodily integrity rights that should not be violated, thus forced male and female circumcision is unethical. I am for the right to physical integrity. To read more on my thinking on this issue check out this link to my blog post: Against Genital Mutilation
Guns
I Am not Pro Guns or Anti guns. I am Pro Rights and Pro Safety. I am an atheist for Non-Aggression, valuing anti-violence unless the aggression or violence is for direct self-defense or other-defense. I am for Gun Rights and I am for Gun Laws. I want sensible laws for all things guns are in no way special. I would like gun laws to be like vehicle license laws, such as different classes A, B, C. And similar scaling required Personal Firearms Liability Insurance per gun and gun type owned like car insurance is for vehicles by different classes A, B, C. NRA Endorsed Personal Firearms Liability Insurance (voluntary of course for the NRA; though I think it should be mandatory)
“A” Being full auto machine guns. “B” being pistols and semiautomatics, and “C” being shotguns and hunting rifles. Just like driving licenses it should be easier to get a class “C” gun license and the hardest and have extra requirements to get a class “A” gun license just like driving licenses. And each class requires proof of training yearly registration and liability insurance for gun ownership just like vehicles. To me, the guns rights issue starts off with a confused mind about guns as I see it there is a human right to self-defense not a right to a dangerous product unencumbered any restrictions. Guns are not special, they are a product, a very dangerous product they may or may not be employed in Self-care (for food “hunting”, safety “self-defense”/other-defense” fun “target practice”). While guns don’t have a human right, there is a human right self-defense is people seem to confuse the two. Speaking of human right self-defense, I am in support of a right to reasonable safety in society (shared right to self along with other-defense) and why I support reasonable gun laws.
The NRA once supported gun control: http://www.salon.com/
Name me laws we don’t put into practice simply because some will not follow them? I’m all for sensible laws. We need sensible laws even if getting people to follow them is a problem. Just like underage drinking, we cannot stop it but we need the laws. Laws are why we even have a right to have guns in the first place. Thus, it is no strange thing a law is needed to govern them as well. Laws are what come from the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution, that guarantees our basic freedoms like freedom of speech, religion, and the press etc.
Possible Gun Debate Fallacies
The gun debate needs a reason, not rhetoric and logical fallacies. There are many fallacies that occur on both sides of the gun debate, this fallacy can be especially distortive in how it affects our ability to think rationally about the issue.
Appeal to Fear- used by both sides such as saying how many more gun deaths would there be if there were no guns to protect us or we must ban all or some guns as it’s the only way to protect us.
Appeal to emotion – used by both sides such as saying if we don’t ban guns, then kids will continue to be violently and gruesomely murdered. If we don’t allow more guns everywhere, then kids will continue to be violently and gruesomely murdered.
False causality – (assume that correlation must equal causation)- used by both sides such as saying remove guns and gun violence will have to drop or allow more guns everywhere and gun violence. Another way to say this is there is no evidence that making gun laws removed gun violence or there is no evidence that open carry gun laws reduce overall gun violence. There could be places in different parts of the country where either of these claims has what looks like validating statistics. This can be a fallacy because it ignores the possibility that the two things are influenced by a third factor. This is a fallacy you should look for whenever statistics are being thrown around because as one of my old dive instructors used to say, statistics can be like bikinis: what they show is revealing, but what they hide is essential.
Slippery slope – eg. If they take away our rights to any weapon soon we won’t be able to hunt at all: This tends to be more of the pro-gun side as they are supportive of maintaining the status quo. It is not a particularly useful argument for change.
Perfect solution fallacy – We can’t strengthen firearm regulations because people will still get their dirty paws on guns. But the goal is a reduction of gun deaths. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t employ a multifaceted approach to deal with this problem.
Appeal to authority – eg. The constitution says we should have guns. This is a tricky point as the validity of the constitution as an authority is rarely questioned, yet it does not necessarily represent a valid argument. This is probably a point that will never change.
Anecdotal fallacy – eg. I know of someone who stopped a robbery with a gun. One incident can always be pointed to where a gun was useful in defense. The size of this example set is usually the point of debate. The same can be said for massacres with firearms on the other side.
My Personal Mission: I champion a value-driven life not just enlightenments by valuing people and embarking to be a friend and show friendliness as a way of inspiring change. Instead of trying to attack people personally and put others down rather than putting bad ideas down. A person wishing for a value-driven life works to inform and build others up as well as hold a willingness to listen and where we see, unrest in the world try to help to offer new thinking to bring level-headedness and peace. A person wishing for a value-driven life sees this positive thinking not just a good thing to do when convenient but see it as a way of life and compassion as a personal virtue.
The number of mass shootings in the America this year (2015) reached 294, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker. The website defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people are killed or injured by gunfire. http://shootingtracker.com/wiki/Mass_Shootings_in_2015
We ethically must do something, as to doing nothing likely means more will suffer. I believe in reasonable anarchist gun laws?
“Damien, you say you agree with reasonable gun laws, but you say you are an anarchist. How can you have gun control without a government?” – Questioner
My response, As if “government” is the only form of governance…
“Explain to me how it works then.” – Questioner
My response, What governance?
“Controlling gun ownership without a state, how would that work.” – Questioner
My response, We the People are the management, and we should support all reasonable personal freedom but still have laws we directly vote on like free People. Direct democracy (also known as pure democracy) is a form of democracy in which people decide (e.g. vote on, form consensus on) policy initiatives directly. Guns are not some human right it’s a dangerous product and like all hazardous products need reasonable regulations just as bomb-making.
“Who enforces the regulations?” – Questioner
My response, I hope you don’ wrongly think I am anti-society. No, I am for ethical Governance, I just oppose the abusive hierarchal governments and one over many rules removing our rights then only giving them back in small peaces and demanding we thank and praise them, some almost as if gods but I am not so fooled, as to me much of what we have now is similar such as fire departments and all other reasonable services we as a community pay for in taxes. I am not against reasonable taxes for desirable social services. From “Big Government” to “Big Governance”?
Gods (Religious Freedom)
Prostitution
I am for legal non forced consensual prostitution (for adults with adults). First for me as in all things: people own themselves, thus have all rights to their body to use as they wish. Also if prostitution were legalized, then it can also be regulated and made more safe. Applicable and newly created laws would make it safer and more healthy for both workers and clients. Prostitution is never going to go away, but we can make it safer for everyone involved.
In 1949, the United Nations adopted a resolution in favor of the decriminalization of prostitution, which has been ratified by fifty countries. The National Task Force on Prostitution suggests that over one million people in the US have worked as prostitutes. Estimates in some larger cities found that 20-30% of prostitutes are male. One report cites 60% of the abuse against street prostitutes perpetrated by clients, 20% by police, and 20% in domestic relationships.
In a study in London, 50% of clients were married or cohabiting. 70% of adult men have engaged in prostitution at least once. Average prostitution arrests include 70% females, 20% males and 10% customers. 85-90% of those arrested work on the street. Prostitution in the US is a 14.5 billion dollar a year business. Cities spend an average of 7.5 million dollars on prostitution control every year, ranging from 1 million dollars to 23 million dollars. Ref
Advocates for sex workers strongly back the idea. A petition in support of such a policy has garnered more than 6,000 signatures, including dozens from sex worker support and advocacy groups in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America. The proposal has also received harsh criticism from anti-trafficking activists as well as from celebrities like Anne Hathaway, Lena Dunham and Kate Winslet. Ref
Amnesty International now joins the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, the World Health Organization and other global groups that argue the best way to protect the safety of people who sell sex is to legalize the industry. Ref
Some say but prostitution is only a result of economic necessity.
This claim that the only reason for prostitution is a result of economic necessity, well that if true would not make it different than all work as all work is an economic necessity, well I guess you could say unless there was something like a basic income. But even where there is a basic income we still see prostitution. Such as in Denmark where their ambassador once said, “while it is difficult to become very rich in Denmark no one is allowed to be poor. The minimum wage in Denmark is about twice that of the United States and people who are totally out of the labor market or unable to care for themselves have a basic income guarantee of about $100 per day.” And yet prostitution still happens in Denmark. But since sex work is not recognized as a lawful profession, sex workers are not entitled to the protection of employment laws or unemployment benefits, but are still required to pay tax. Ref
So let’s look at the research not believed claims.
Half of the prostitutes in a new survey say they became prostitutes because of sexual curiosity, and 68 percent consider their line of work as part of their sexuality.
“While there’s no doubt that money is the primary reason for the women becoming prostitutes, it is very surprising that sexual motivation ranks so highly,” says Jens Kofod, who holds a PhD in anthropology and is a researcher at SFI – The Danish National Centre for Social Research. Ref
Again, I am only for non-forced consensual prostitution (for adults with adults), that said I want to make it clear no one is obligated to give or engage in sex, not even in a relationship or marriage; but this includes the thinking behind the term ”friendzone.” To me the idea of ”friendzone” is or may be connected to some odd belief that people mostly women have an obligation to offer sex in return for friendly actions or thoughts. To such thinking I wish to remind people that NO one is required to be sexual with anyone regardless of how nice you are, how close you are as friends, on a date, or if you’re romantically together, etc. I always strive to respect the body ownership of others including their right to use sexual consent when, how and with whom they wish and there is no external entitlement nor obligation owed or owned by anyone else then the person themselves.
Drugs
I am for eliminating prohibition of all drugs for adults and establishing appropriate regulation and standards for distribution and use. First for me as in all things: people own themselves, thus have all rights to their body to use as they wish.
History has shown that drug prohibition reduces neither use nor abuse. After a rapist is arrested, there are fewer rapes. After a drug dealer is arrested, however, neither the supply nor the demand for drugs is seriously changed. The arrest merely creates a job opening for an endless stream of drug entrepreneurs who will take huge risks for the sake of the enormous profits created by prohibition. Prohibition costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars every year, yet 40 years and some 40 million arrests later, drugs are cheaper, more potent and far more widely used than at the beginning of this futile crusade. Ref
10 Reasons to legalise all drugs
1 Address the real issues
2 Eliminate the criminal market place
3 Massively reduce crime
4 Drug users are a majority
5 Provide access to truthful information and education
6 Make all drug use safer
7 Restore our rights and responsibilities
8 Race and Drugs
9 Global Implications
10 Prohibition doesn’t work
To read the details for the ten reasons click the link: http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugten.html
The Right to Die
I am for the right to die, supporting ‘rational suicide’ assisted voluntary euthanasia. First for me as in all things: people own themselves, thus have all rights to their body to use as they wish.
The right to die is a moral principle based on the belief that a human being is entitled to commit suicide or to undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood to mean that a person with a terminal illness should be allowed to commit suicide or assisted suicide or to decline life-prolonging treatment, where a disease would otherwise prolong their suffering to an identical result. The question of who, if anyone, should be empowered to make these decisions is often central to the debate.
Proponents typically associate the right to die with the idea that one’s body and one’s life are one’s own, to dispose of as one sees fit. However, a legitimate state interest in preventing irrational suicides is sometimes argued. Pilpel and Amsel write, “Contemporary proponents of ‘rational suicide’ or the ‘right to die’ usually demand by ‘rationality’ that the decision to kill oneself be both the autonomous choice of the agent (i.e., not due to the physician or the family pressuring them to ‘do the right thing’ and commit suicide). Ref
Sexual Consent
Consent is defined as permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. And synonyms Consent: agreement, assent, acceptance, approval, authorization, permission; informal: go-ahead, thumbs up, green light, OK.
Body Ownership or Self-Ownership (self-rights to your body or sovereignty of the individual, individual sovereignty or individual autonomy) and similar to Property of or in the Person.
A mother I know had the conversation with her son after me and she talked about self-ownership and consent and she said it went very well. She told me she would be talking to her 8-year-old son and it will be a lesson in consent. She said she was going to use hugs as an example for consent. She planned to tell him that not everyone wants to be hugged, so it’s a good idea to make sure it’s ok. Someone may have been ok with you hugging them yesterday, but doesn’t want you to hug them today. THAT’S OK! It’s THEIR BODY! Also, if someone hugs a lot of people, they are NOT obligated to hug everyone. That is also ok. If you ask someone if it’s ok to hug them and if they say I don’t know, treat that as a no. They may be worried about what you think if they say no. It’s about respect people’s rights to their bodies. Touch is a personal matter and shouldn’t be taken personally. Not wanting to be hugged doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t like you and don’t want to be your friend. And don’t forget, you have all these same rights to your body as well. She wanted to keep this discussion gender neutral as rape isn’t only a problem being faced by women. She was hoping this conversation paves the way for a few years down the road when it’s about sex. This is our contribution to a better future by raising one more person to not have any grey area on consent.
After talking to me she had a talk with her son. She combined my examples of explaining consent with hers and thus used the words consent and body ownership when she spoke with him. through body or self-ownership like home ownership; even if you have been to someone’s house 100 times you still have to knock on the door and wait for them to let you in if they wish (give consent to come inside) and you are allowed in with a tentative consent as likely you are not able to just move in without further consent and even then it’s a limited consent and likely comes with some of limits rooms or spaces not a universal consent. She added my explanation with hers and used the words consent and body ownership when she spoke with him. As I advised, she didn’t use any language that indicated the discussion applying to one gender over another. At the end, I asked him if he had any questions. He said no. So she gave a few scenarios and asked what he should do or if what an occurred in each scenario was ok. He did very well. She said she was glad she engaged him further in the discussion even after he said he had no questions. It was a great way for her to gauge his comprehension.
Why she felt a need to talk to him was in light of the recent controversy about the swimmer who raped the unconscious woman, and most especially there are some people victim blaming. And there have been a lot of eye-rolls when people say things like instead of blaming the victim for what she was wearing/saying/doing/alcohol consumption, how about we just teach boys not to rape. Well, what happened was a matter of first-order moral principles violation of “Consent” in general and disrespect for “Body Ownership” of the unconscious woman and specifically Sexual Ethics violation rape sex without consent or against consent.
She told me what she wants is for this message to get out to parents. What would be really cool is after putting the piece out there, we could post it again no less than a month later, but with the addition of people’s success stories and updates on how my son has applied the concept to his behavior and interactions with others, possibly even share it in discussions he has with other kids. She also is hoping it helps people to understand that children can be taught this easily and comfortably. She told me home a family of allies: supporting equal civil rights, gender equality, LGBT social movements, and challenging homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and intersexphobia. She had provisory talked to him about never bullying and standing up for others being bullied. He told her his teacher last year said that two men or two women can’t get married. My friend was pissed because it was the previous summer when two men or two women getting married became legal in all 50 states. Not to mention it was a hateful seed to plant in the minds of 1st graders! So my friend used it as an opportunity to teach her son that just because someone is in a position of power, doesn’t mean they are always right. If something strikes you as wrong, then it probably is, so it’s ok to question it. I agreed authority is a position, not a universal fact, it must be justified and just. I told her she is doing great and is an amazing mother, we need more people like her. Having some concern to discourage her son from being a class disruption she told him that for now, he needs to talk about it with her first. If they together think his teacher is ever wrong, then we can talk with them together.
All unconsent especially violations to sexual consent should not only be criticize we should teach consent thus to me we also should teach Body Ownership or Self-Ownership (self-rights to your body or sovereignty of the individual, individual sovereignty or individual autonomy).
—-Teaching consent, well there is formal and informal consent.
*What is formal consent?
Formal consent or Informed Consent is the requirement of informed consent in professional practice, the doctrine of informed consent rose to dominance during the course of the 20th century. Informed consent is shorthand for informed, voluntary, and decisionally-capacitated consent. It replaced a medical ethos founded on trust in physicians’ decisions—often on the assumption that “doctor knows best”—with an ethos that sought to put patients in charge of their own care. In English, “consent” has several meanings but in the relevant sense, consent transactions have a distinct structure: person A consents to B’s engagement for a time on A’s body or owned self, under a certain description of A’s body or owned self, whether or not the offer was initiated by B. For example, a person “A” may consent to a physician “B” touching their genitals as part of a physical exam, but this limited consent is not and cannot be thought to as universal entitled consent such as if consent is given for a breast exam this not a free-for-all consent to then touch the woman’s vagina or rectum. Just like if consent is given for a tactical exam this not a free-for-all consent to then touch the man’s penis or rectum. Unconsented touch is bodily trespass an action that in itself is wrongful in respect of its being a violation of autonomy of another and that the class of such actions violates Body Ownership or Self-Ownership and the right to consent that comes with them. There must be a better understanding of how we all own our own bodies and how we are the only sovereign owner to allow consent personal autonomy.
*What is in formal consent?
Consent is an agreement between participants to usually to engage in sexual activity sometimes in close romantic relationships there is what is called “presumed consent” though this is only tentative by an agreed loose consent dependent on the people, place and time, etc. There are many ways to give consent, and consent doesn’t have to be verbal, but verbally agreeing to different sexual activities can help both you and your partner respect each other’s boundaries. Consent in sexual interactions have a distinct structure: person A consents to B’s engagement for a time on A’s body or owned self, under a certain description of A’s body or owned self, whether or not the offer was initiated by B. For example, a person “A” may consent to kissing “B” but this is not a free-for-all consent allowing touching her genitals as the consent is for kissing and while some mistake this as a universal sexual consent, this is a limited consent and cannot be thought to as universal entitled consent as in you must ask if your partner is in the mood for sex, one should ask for and be given consent each and every time sex is desired, unless given consent otherwise. As people own themselves, thus have all rights to their body to use as they wish. Moreover, this sexual consent is not a universal ok for any and all in any way sexual consent unless stated so, such as if consent is given for a breast exam this, not a free-for-all consent to then touch the woman’s vagina or rectum. Just like if consent is given for a tactical exam this not a free-for-all consent to then touch the man’s penis or rectum. I wish to remind people that NO one is required to be sexual with anyone regardless of how nice you are, how close you are as friends, on a date, or if you’re romantically together, etc. I always strive to respect the body ownership of others including their right to use sexual consent when, how and with whom they wish and there is no external entitlement nor obligation owed or owned by anyone else than the person themselves.
—–Teaching Body Ownership or Self-Ownership
*What is Self-Ownership?
Self–ownership (or sovereignty of the individual, individual sovereignty or individual autonomy) is the concept of property in one’s own person, expressed as the moral or natural right of a person to have bodily integrity, and be the exclusive controller of his own body and life. In a general sense the concept of rights means that an individual, and by extension all people in society are justified in rejecting force agent themselves or using force to defend themselves or others in certain circumstances from human rights violations, “self-ownership violations” meaning “the individual owns themselves and thus has rights to their body and what interacts with it or how it is use (self-governed body).” This is something that very few people would dispute, and thus the concept of human rights or self-ownership basically highlights the thinking connected to ones right to life as well as how that life is used. “Self-ownership” can thus be interpreted as meaning: we have individual body sovereignty, we have moral legitimacy to our rights in our bodies and our liberty s connected to this understanding, we are the only ones who (should) have control over ourselves, we are self-ownership agents on equal standing with every other self-ownership agent in society. Therefore, “Self-ownership” is the capacity to live wholly in accordance with the full and free exercise of our private judgment about and to our body. Ref
“Self-ownership” can be thought of as a person’s self-management and can thus be interpreted as supported under: Civil liberties “sovereignty of the individual”.
Civil liberties are personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge, either by law or by judicial interpretation without due process. Though the scope of the term differs amongst various countries, some examples of civil liberties include the freedom from torture, freedom from forced disappearance, freedom of conscience, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the right to security and liberty, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the right to equal treatment under the law and due process, the right to a fair trial, and the right to life. Other civil liberties include the right to own property, the right to defend oneself, and the right to bodily integrity. In America, we not only have Bill of Rights a collective name for amendments to the United States Constitution states have a constitution such as a bill of rights, or similar constitutional documents that enumerate and seek to guarantee civil liberties. Likewise, there is the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (abolished slavery and involuntary servitude) is sometimes viewed as an implementation of the concept of self-ownership, as are some portions of the Bill of Rights. “Self-ownership” can be thought of as involving a person’s bodily integrity which is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy and the self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. It considers the violation of bodily integrity as an unethical infringement.
For more reading check out the following links:
Teaching Consent Without Sex: http://www.wcsap.org/teaching-consent-without-sex
We Can Teach Kids About Consent Without Bringing Sex into the Conversation: https://rewire.news/article/2015/04/09/can-teach-kids-consent-without-bringing-sex-conversation/
This Is How You Teach Kids About Consent: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/good-men-project/this-is-how-you-teach-kids-about-consent_b_10360296.html
Healthy Sex Talk Teaching Kids Consent, Ages 1-21: http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/03/teaching-kids-consent-ages-1-21/
Sex Ed Lesson ‘Yes Means Yes,’ but It’s Tricky:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/us/california-high-schools-sexual-consent-classes.html?_r=0
What If We Treated All Consent Like Society Treats Sexual Consent:
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/how-society-treats-consent/
Self-ownership: Abortion, Genital Mutilation, Prostitution, Drugs, and the Right to Die: https://damienmarieathope.com/2016/02/28/self-ownership-abortion-genital-mutilation-prostitution-drugs-and-the-right-to-die/
References
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/informed-consent/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_liberties
- Navigating Sexual Consent: Body-Sovereignty/Self-Ownership
- The History of Abortion as well as Religion and Abortion
- Advocating Anarchism: Morality, Non-coercion, Anti-hierarchy, Solidarity, Internationalism, Mutualism, Cooperationism, Empowermentism, etc.
- Philosophy to the Rescue: explaining Reason, Logic, Evidence, Truth, Certainty, Reality, and Science
While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.
The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:
Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO
Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO
I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.
The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”
My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?
I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.
I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.
This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO
Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“
Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)
Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)
Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)
Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)
Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)
Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)
Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)
The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.
Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?
Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.
I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.
Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.
At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.
Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)
Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft
Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie
Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.
Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”
I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.
To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so.
My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?
Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago.
Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):
Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism
My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com