Quote:
Originally Posted by David Sklansky
I'm not sure how much you would have changed your replies if you had realized that I was pretty much using "kiss" as a euphemism.
I've been clear all along that there is a relevant difference in my view between feeling revulsion towards a common public display of affection like kissing and a portrayal of sex, so your reticence here has not helpful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Sklansky
In any case I submit that it is a superior person, not an inferior one, who favors the freedom to do something that he finds disgusting, as compared to someone who doesn't. We don't know what that second person would favor if he felt differently.
Let's say someone doesn't like black people, but believes that they should be treated equally before the law. Compare them to a person who is indifferent towards race or likes black people and also believes that they should be treated equally before the law. This probably provides evidence that the prior person is more likely to support equality before law in other cases (I'm a bit skeptical of this as an account of political psychology, but whatever).
However, that is only one moral belief, and one that has relatively little impact on our day-to-day life (few people have any impact on how race and law interact). On the other hand, that person's dislike of black people, assuming he lives around black people, will likely have a noticeable impact on their day-to-day relationships with those around them. Thus, a cumulative moral view the dislike of black people would likely negatively outweigh the slightly increased chance that the prior person would favor equality before the law in other cases.
Similarly in our discussion, I think the impact on day-to-day behavior of someone who finds gay couple's kissing disgusting is likely to outweigh the benefit of the slightly increased likelihood of this person supporting people's right to do other things they find disgusting. So I don't agree that this is a sign of a superior person, but rather of someone with a defect of character that they have overcome in their political beliefs.
More generally, I think you are overvaluing the importance of political beliefs to morality relative to our moral character.