Cheap Morality, was Re: anti-zionism

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sat May 11 11:16:28 PDT 2002


Incidentally, my original post under this heading had nothing to do with whether or not marxism was a moral theory or not. My argument would still hold on the premise that marxism was a pure statement of moral principle. In fact, I specifically noted that I was expressing a feeling I had had long before I had become a marxist.

"I was suspicious of those who had no power over events taking rigorous moral positions." This holds even on the premise that all thinking and action should be based on a firmly developed ethic. Morality which cannot influence action is "cheap." Example: Nathan pompously announcing that he would under certain circumstances approve of bombing Israel.

That kind of hogwash is cheap -- and ought to be seen as cheap by everyone, marxist or non-marxist.

As a cartoonist presented Ike back in the '50s: "I am against extremists on both sides: those who blow up schools and those who want to keep them open."

Carrol



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