Should incest be banned?

[Tiberius]

well for a start, incest is banned - in the outside world anyway.

That's a great line of reasoning: It's banned, therefore it is bad and it should be banned.

As for value of opinion, that is for a judge to decide in the final analysis.

No it isn't. There's no such thing as an objective morality, even from a judge.

What they have effectively done here is destroyed their natural sibling love...

Care to back up this claim? Remember, I asked for SPECIFICS.

...and warped it into one of self-gratifying lust.

How do you know? How do you know it wasn't out of their love for each other?

Here they have both harmed themselves mentally...

How?

...and the law needs to protect people against themselves in cases like this.

Yes, you decide it is wrong and therefore should be banned and anyone who disagrees with you is also wrong.

It may be so that your hypothetical pair have the intelligence to deal with it but there are likely many out there that do not.

WHat is your source on this? Or are you making stuff up?

Incest is a destroyer of families and family values.

Wow, you just love making unsupported claims, don't you?

I think drug use, alcoholism, and gambling addiction have destroyed many more families.

 

[nnmartin]

How do you know? How do you know it wasn't out of their love for each other?

It would be misguided love.

Yes, you decide it is wrong and therefore should be banned and anyone who disagrees with you is also wrong.

seems like you have a good idea there

WHat is your source on this? Or are you making stuff up?

How can you expect a source from a hypothetical question?

 

[nnmartin]

I think drug use, alcoholism, and gambling addiction have destroyed many more families.

That is probably true but it would be virtually impossible to ban an 'addiction'.

 

[McBell]

That is probably true but it would be virtually impossible to ban an 'addiction'.

You can "ban" addictions all you like.
Doesn't mean that anyone will pay any heed to it.

Smoking Marijuana is illegal.
Yet there are tons of people who not only smoke it, but flaunt the fact they smoke it.

 

[Zoe Doidge]

How can you expect a source from a hypothetical question?

He's not asking for a source on this specific example (obviously, since it's made up) he's asking for a source regarding your completely invented claims like the number of people intelligent enough to be involved in incestuous sexual relationships.

All you've done is tried to justify a ban by making up unspecified mental issues. I'd be justified to exactly the same degree by saying that religious people are damaging their brains by believing in God and should be locked up for their own good. That is to say, not at all.

 

[Tiberius]

It would be misguided love.

Once again, you resort to unsupported statements. You'll have to do better.

seems like you have a good idea there

Oh my god...

How can you expect a source from a hypothetical question?

I expect a source to back up YOUR point of view, not my hypothetical! Geez, you're really bad at this, aren't you?

That is probably true but it would be virtually impossible to ban an 'addiction'.

True, but there are ways to control it. {Promote the use of non-addictive substitutes if possible, make it easy for affected people to get help...

 

[Father Heathen]

It would be misguided love.

Sure, but so too is your faith.

 

[nnmartin]

You can "ban" addictions all you like.
Doesn't mean that anyone will pay any heed to it.

Smoking Marijuana is illegal.
Yet there are tons of people who not only smoke it, but flaunt the fact they smoke it.

That may be true, but we are talking about principles here.

ie: incest should be banned because it is wrong.

 

[nnmartin]

True, but there are ways to control it. {Promote the use of non-addictive substitutes if possible, make it easy for affected people to get help...

There is a ready made substitute for incest out there.

It is called a normal relationship.

You should try it!

 

[InformedIgnorance]

Normal is a subjective term ;P

I do however wonder though nnmartin, given your espoused reasons for being opposed to incestual unions, would you continue to object if it were possible for the people involved to alter their own genetic codes? I.e. if at some stage in the future, humans become capable of the genetic manipulation of a mature human, would it change whether ot not such a union was 'acceptable but distateful' or not by your standards?

I ask because your previous reply about the half siblings was rather trite in that the reason that you gave for being opposed to half siblings was that they share one biological parent (i.e. that they are half siblings) as such it is not a reason, you are merely restating your position. The Uncle/Neice, Nephew/Aunt and Grandparent/Grandchild relation is also one you have yet to state your position on (I am attempting to identify just what your 'acceptability' pertains to given your seemingly arbirtrary position on half siblings).

 

[nnmartin]

the first paragraph of your post above belongs in the Star Trek discussion forum so I"ll not bother with it.

The second paragraph has also been dealt with already.

Incest within the traditional family unit is out.

 

[InformedIgnorance]

I see, so in other words you feel the idea of genetic manipulation is so fanciful that it isn't worth examining? IVF was once considered the same way, as was genetic screening of embryos... and there are many scientists already working on mechanisms for altering genetic code for the treatment of different disorders... hardly star trek material

Actually, your own position has not - since grandparents and aunts/uncles are not within most people's understanding of the 'traditional family unit', which given what you have stated about cousins, does not extend to children of the grandparents, or their children. You just assume people know what you mean when you say it... which given the different concept of 'family unit' in different cultures, is a extremely poorly conceived assumption.

 

[nnmartin]

I see that you have now descended into a debate over semantics.

Come back when you have something to say directly related to the topic, otherwise you may as well just keep your pointless waffle to yourself.:sleep:

 

[McBell]

I see that you have now descended into a debate over semantics.

Come back when you have something to say directly related to the topic, otherwise you may as well just keep your pointless waffle to yourself.:sleep:

You tend to run tail tucked quite often.

 

[Tiberius]

I think it's a bit rich of you to demand people stick to the topic when you are YET to provide specific answers to the questions I asked about my hypothetical situation.

 

[nnmartin]

do you know what a scratched record is Tibs?

 

[Tiberius]

Yes. I've been listening to you do it for a long time now.

 

[nnmartin]

ok, well we are both scratching away here agreed.

now, let's start with a new direction.

How about the abortion idea that someone mentioned a few posts back?

 

[Zoe Doidge]

ok, well we are both scratching away here agreed.

now, let's start with a new direction.

How about the abortion idea that someone mentioned a few posts back?

What about it? In the context of this thread it's simply a last resort method if contraception should fail in a heterosexual incest relationship.

If you want to talk about whether abortion is right or not that's beyond the scope of this thread and you should begin a new one.

 

[cablescavenger]

This topic has been mentioned in passing in a few threads recently so I thought it would be time to address the issue head on.

Should incest be banned and is it wrong?

I'd say yes and yes.

All the supposed logical fallacies apply here:

It's depraved, immoral, leads to retardation, God forbids it, its unnatural and is just out and out weird. Many more issues of course as well.

Subjective, objective or whatever type of reasoning - it is wrong and should be banned.

When I say incest I'm really talking about close family members.

I'll try to be open minded here but I can't really see any justification for legalisation.


Anyone have anything to say on this?

Without incest we wouldn't have the aristocrats!