Who has the right to dictate how others live their lives?

[Cryranos]

This has been precipitated by Wyatt's response to my topic in game dev discussion about themes in video games.

This has been an issue in politics for some time, with abortion and gay marriage being the big topics that they are. I believe that no one should have the right to tell other people how to live their lives, within reason. The two main topics that I use here are gay marriage and abortion, although this could apply to most facets of life.

I believe that abortion is bad. However, I would never tell someone NOT to get an abortion. I would state my disapproval and try to convince her to change her mind, but in the end, it is her decision, her choice. I frown upon the anti-abortion terrorists, while I agree with their ideal, that abortion is killing babies, I do not believe, as stated, that anyone should be told how to live their lives.

I am also a supporter of gay marriage. Being a gay man, chances are that I will not be allowed to get married in most of the country or the world in my lifetime. I am obviously against the passing of laws that prohibit same-sex marriage and hope for the repeal of DoMA. However, unlike the previous point, I fail to understand the logic of the other side. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I see the anti-gay marriage movement as discrimination for the sake of discrimination. It's as if the fact that two men are marrying each other hurts them or something.

The bottom line is that no one should be able to tell someone else how to live their life so long as it's not hurting anyone (within reason). Maybe it's a double-standard, but I feel that things such as illegal drugs, street-corner prostitution, etc. should continue to be illegal due to the negative effects those have on society.

I want to hear what you all think about this. I want to hear some of the other sides to my examples, as well as other example to support or discredit my statement.

 

[mawk]

part of living in a society is that you accept certain restrictions imposed by the leader or the greater whole. "no one should tell others how to live their live" is, essentially, a pretty but wholly meaningless statement. all rules exist for a reason, even if those reasons are irrelevant to your specific situation. the moment you place yourself outside those rules, you place yourself outside the society itself. there are ways to appeal and alter the rules, as well as the possibility of smaller and more local governance to ensure the rules better fit the situation, but challenging the actual existence of those rules ignores their fundamental importance to any collection of people that aspires to anything above total anarchy.

 

[Daxis]

Those with power.

What can you do if you don't have power? One of my fav quotes(the otaku in me) is "Peace is but a show of death." We all want freedom and choice, but only those with power allows others to HAVE this choice in the first place.
For america and other countries, the government has the power. They dictate our lives, because they are able to. Naturally, the people that are "good" want to keep balance; we all know that human beings are naturally dominating and crap, so because of that we have to set limits to ourselves, and therefore we have established the government so that we, as a general civilization, don't become "bad".

Of course, humanity itself is made up of individual people with individual ideas and characteristics. The more powerhungry people are the ones that usually dictate, since they have the position of power. We all have our own ideals and beliefs, and from there, if we have the power to, we force our beliefs onto others BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THAT WE ARE RIGHT and that WE BELIEVE THEY ARE WRONG. No one ever thinks themselves evil; they think they are doing a good thing, or if not, they have apathy towards the idea of "evil"(I probably phrased that last sentence badly).

Take your example(s). Illegal drugs: illegal because of the government. A damn lot of countries don't band weed, and various approved/legal drugs have gotten people killed. Street corner prostitution: releases sexual desire/stamina so that the general populace is more relaxed, and stimulates economic trade, on a lower scale.:P

 

[moog]

Oh, boy this thread.

 

[mawk]

daxisheart, what are you even saying? it seems as if you're all over the place with trite tidbits of philosophy and don't really arrive at a conclusion.

 

[Daxis]

Really? Although it was sorta all over the place, I think it was clear that I meant those with power dictate how others live their lives. I then went into depth that people naturally have varying opinions, and it is because of that that people have conflict trying to dictate others' lives. I finished up by proving counterexamples to metatron's examples.

 

[OrbitDuke]

Really? Although it was sorta all over the place, I think it was clear that I meant those with power dictate how others live their lives. I then went into depth that people naturally have varying opinions, and it is because of that that people have conflict trying to dictate others' lives. I finished up by proving counterexamples to metatron's examples.

While I can understand your point about those in power having influence, I don't think they exactly 'dictate' how our lives are lived. Your example of drugs I disagree with. Weed, for example, is hardly a major thing to lose your cool over, but think for a moment about a lot of harder drugs, like cocaine. People will spend all their money, (sometimes in many cases government assistance money) on the drug, as opposed to buying food, paying for shelter, clothes, feeding their children, etc etc. I worked with a donation service during the holidays were we distributed gifts to needy families, and I walked into many a home that could have thier lives turned around by giving up things like drugs and booze. That aside, the person made a choice to take the drug and to continue using it without seeking help such as therapy. They could have chosen to turn their situation around, but they are not.

As mawk said, there are rules in place for a reason. They are there largly in part to help society as a whole.
Some people will agree with drug use and the like, until someone they know has their life ruined by it, or the drugs are given to their child, etc etc. Life is about choices, not someone telling you what you can and can not do. That's my two cents.

 

[Guest]

;D

 

[Daxis]

no-one or no thing dictates how i live my life, i do what i want pretty much when i want. there is a reason we're individuals, you know. i believe that the only person who has the right to dictate your life is you yourself, other people do try but you gotta learn to be an individual. yes there are rules to follow but the most important rules are common sense and respect for others, nothing to do with people trying tell you what to and what not to do.

The thing is, you're allowed to do this(I'm assuming you're living in america). HEre, you're allowed to state your belief and live your life how you want, as long it's in the boundaries of rules. Think about all those other countries that oppress the people, like libya or maybe china- you're really not too much of an individual there, with the opression of everything in libya and the huge population in China.

And, of course, not all rules are common sense- there's honor killing in the middle eastern, which is condoned by the certain culture(s). And, of course, there are weird screwy people that don't like to respect others for some reason.

 

[OrbitDuke]

Again, it's all about choice. You choose to break rules or follow them, to leave your country or not (And yes, I understand that's not always possible).

 

[Guest]

;D