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"Future people will agree with me." We probably do not currently look back with horror to the things that those people from old Kent thought we'd look back in

"Future people will agree with me." We probably do not currently look back with horror to the things that those people from old Kent thought we'd look back in horror to. Instead we judge these people according to our current standards, just as future people will judge us to their standards, which we would probably find quite revolting if we could grasp them at all.

trevmckendrick 12y ago
Pg said it better than I can: http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html
- nl 12y ago
  I downvoted you for a number of reasons, none of which are what PG are talking about. Basically, I think your comment lacked perspective. All cultures have taboos and rites. It is extremely difficult to predict how they will change in the future. For example, the ancient Greeks had no taboo against homosexuality (indeed, it was considered normal), but they also had nothing against keeping slaves. The US as a nation has no taboo against advertising to children, and yet attitudes to homosexuality vary dramatically by region. Extreme violence in films is considered taboo in most cultures, and yet entertaining in the US. Racism is publicly decried in the US, and yet remains ingrained in some other countries. Eating dogs is taboo in the US, not in other countries. Bacon is considered a delicacy in the US, and taboo in many countries. Sometimes religion is the carrier of some of these taboos and rites, and sometimes it is not. Sometimes religion innoculates a culture against a particular practice (eg, Halal means alcoholism isn't a big problem in Muslim countries), and other times it is used to both justify it and to fight it (eg the changing Christian attitude to Slavery). I suspect you'd be better off justifying your post rather than complaining about persecution of downvotes.
  - trevmckendrick 12y ago
    Thanks for the detailed response(s). I also "justified" my post in another comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7832128 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7832128) but I'll repeat myself for you, too. "Sometimes religion is the carrier of some of these taboos and rites, and sometimes it is not." Agreed. But my original post simply said this was a reminder of the "dangers of religion." And this specific example demonstrates that well. Religious beliefs were used to justify human sacrifice, despite murder being a "taboo that is shared by many cultures", as you well put it.

trevmckendrick 12y ago

Pg said it better than I can: http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html

nl 12y ago
I downvoted you for a number of reasons, none of which are what PG are talking about. Basically, I think your comment lacked perspective. All cultures have taboos and rites. It is extremely difficult to predict how they will change in the future. For example, the ancient Greeks had no taboo against homosexuality (indeed, it was considered normal), but they also had nothing against keeping slaves. The US as a nation has no taboo against advertising to children, and yet attitudes to homosexuality vary dramatically by region. Extreme violence in films is considered taboo in most cultures, and yet entertaining in the US. Racism is publicly decried in the US, and yet remains ingrained in some other countries. Eating dogs is taboo in the US, not in other countries. Bacon is considered a delicacy in the US, and taboo in many countries. Sometimes religion is the carrier of some of these taboos and rites, and sometimes it is not. Sometimes religion innoculates a culture against a particular practice (eg, Halal means alcoholism isn't a big problem in Muslim countries), and other times it is used to both justify it and to fight it (eg the changing Christian attitude to Slavery). I suspect you'd be better off justifying your post rather than complaining about persecution of downvotes.
- trevmckendrick 12y ago
  Thanks for the detailed response(s). I also "justified" my post in another comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7832128 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7832128) but I'll repeat myself for you, too. "Sometimes religion is the carrier of some of these taboos and rites, and sometimes it is not." Agreed. But my original post simply said this was a reminder of the "dangers of religion." And this specific example demonstrates that well. Religious beliefs were used to justify human sacrifice, despite murder being a "taboo that is shared by many cultures", as you well put it.