Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!oliveb!pyramid!voder!kontron!optilink!cramer
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: lotus chairman makes 26 million
Summary: problems of morality
Keywords: copy protection piracy
Message-ID: <187@optilink.UUCP>
Date: 1 Jun 88 00:46:07 GMT
References: <9160@cisunx.UUCP> <1801@uhccux.UUCP> <807@netxcom.UUCP> <230@proxftl.UUCP>
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA
Lines: 30

In article <230@proxftl.UUCP>, bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) writes:
> In article <18963@watmath.waterloo.edu>, rwwetmore@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ross Wetmore) writes:
> > >Our morality says that taking something from someone, INCLUDING IDEAS,
> > >is a form of theft unless compensation is provided.
> >   Morality == religion -> breeds all kinds of myopic fanatics. Moral
> > justification is only applicable to those who belong to your particular
> > sect, and should be confined to discussions between its members.
> >   Besides this statement is obviously wrong :-)
> 
> Ah...  it is not possible to abstract legal rights from their
> moral foundation.  Eventually, in order to justify property
> rights of any kind you must do so by reference to some morality.
> 
> Property rights, however defined, must rest on the idea of
> something of value to someone.  And right there you have run into
> a question of morality.

What I find most amusing is that leftists frequently argue against property
rights, and indeed, all notions of human rights because they dispute the
idea of absolute morality -- but that doesn't seem to stop them from 
appealing to the idea of "right" when trying to justify whatever wealth
redistribution scheme they are peddling at the moment.

Because of the differences of opinion of what constitutes right and wrong,
our society's disagreements about human rights finally boil down to, "Are
you strong enough to force your will on me or not?"  Power comes from the
barrel of a gun -- and that's the only thing that matters when the basic
assumptions about human rights are as far apart as they are between the
left and right in our country.

Clayton E. Cramer