Why are we here? If it is because of some divine purpose then it is not a question that is answerable by me, nor any of my concern…. except to say that that divine being is a total egocentric bastard of seriously limited intelligence. If the reason why we are here is simply due to chance atomic get togethers, a cosmic knees up, where evolution has taken its course and along the way created us, then that begs a lot of questions probably all of which have quite nasty answers.
The first and obvious question is morality, if we are a divine invention then that removes all need of thought on the topic, our morals are given to us and the divine being is still a bastard for a) not telling us what they are and b) not enforcing them with any fairness nor logic.
I cannot think of any alternative between a divinity and a cosmic joke so lets go with being a cosmic joke. What now is morality? Well the answer is simple, morality is a social construct which changes as a consequence of the needs of the particular dominant factor in the ruling class(es) of society in any given area and time.
In other words, there is no morality as such, morality seems to be a catch-all phrase to encompass a generalisation that suits the mindset of the dominant faction(s) which does not require specific laws or rules. To put it another way, if you do something which is ‘not right’ but doesn’t fall clearly into a law or rule category then either it becomes OK and a part of the new ‘morality’ because you are very, very powerful, or, the people who are powerful will impose the general purpose ‘morality’ to justify creating some form of correction to prevent you or your ilk from repeating the action. That correction may include a particular penalty against yourself all the way up to removing your life, after all you are a danger to the status quo.
All sets of ‘laws’ and rules through time have been encompassed by or framed by the ‘morality’ of the time/region and morality has changed as radically as the laws and rules have changed. Through time just about every excess and depravity has been accepted as fine within the morality of the day. Slavery, racist slavery, child sex, rampant murder, gross torture, wanton theft, you name it, it has been a normal part of society, often in a cyclic pattern, somewhere at sometime.
If we take slavery, slavery has existed around the globe since the development of an agrarian world. Of course surplus was required before proper stratification could develop. Someone needed time to be a ‘leader’ and therefore someone else had to produce more than they could consume in order to support the parasite (which in essence is what all leaders/rulers are), hence the need for some form of agrarian society.
Slavery takes many forms from taking slaves in war or raids (the most egalitarian form of slavery), taking slaves of particular countries, race or colour such as the African and Chinese slave trade, bondage of a particular sex, slavery of a nation to its rulers (Pharaohs as an example), singular slavery as in the sex trade to the many forms of slavery inherent in any capitalist country. All have not only been legal but have been actively encouraged by the ruling classes. As a side note, not all slaves have been black, white slaves are common throughout history.
Child sex? Well to have child sex firstly there needs to be the classification of ‘a child’ and that is a pretty modern phenomenon. Child labour and young brides were normal for most of history. Mohammed is vilified by the western media for being a ‘paedophile’. One of his wives has been variously reported as being from 9 years old to 19 years old. It should be noted that there is no dispute about Mary being just 13 when she was impregnated (supposedly) by a god! Methinks the Christians need to be careful about throwing stones 🙂
Marriage (and pregnancies) with women aged 12 were very common in the past and even in the modern USA the age of consent varies wildly from state to state and over time. It was also common for men to marry at a far older age, under 30 being considered far too young for a man to marry. We should also note that ‘marriage’ was a device only used by the upper classes anyway (property laws) and commoners never married until quite recently. So this particular ‘morality’ is purely socially driven, the concept of a ‘child’ itself is socially driven and that which horrifies today (in the west only?) would be bemusing as a concept in the past.
Torture, now there’s a good one, morally repugnant in the West… well it was until 15 years or so ago, now the morality compass has been reset by the powers that be and the ‘sheeple’ have, as usual, swallowed the moral compass shift with hardly a blink. It will of course backfire as now it is open slather on american(USA) detainees. But wait, there’s more! We also have the moral compass shift regarding murdering completely innocent men women and children (there is, apparently, a moral degree shift regarding murder depending upon the age and sex of the murder victim?!?). Collateral damage, otherwise known as murder, is now accepted by the US population as morally ‘correct’, not acceptable, actually correct, if it is muslim children who are being slaughtered by american(USA) drones. I think this is partly to, by association, legitimise the murdering of Palestinians by Israel, remember it is the jewish owned press who are behind this current morality shift.
Here’s a good one, it is morally repugnant for Islamic ‘terrorists’ to not fight ‘in the open’, against staggeringly ridiculous odds cf firepower and armour, but it is ‘good’ to murder civilians by bombing from the air with planes well out of range of even detection, let alone anti-aircraft fire.