Are all societies and cultures morally equal?

[Majormarginal]

He wrote in "Rules for Radicals" Do these particular ends justify these particular means?

I'll read up on moral relativism.

I've gone from being concerned about much to being concerned for peace at my address. I don't have much use for absolute belief.

The older I get the more I believe that most things are scams. That might be an absolute belief.

Paradox? Dichotomy?

I believe we're not the Army that manifested destiny.

[Ron Humphrey]

I believe we're not the Army that manifested destiny.

would that be

[Kiwigrunt]

There is no meaning to life. Life is just what it is. Meaning is something we add to it, and to everything else. There is no meaning inherent to it.
Life probably was not meant to be ‘solved’ either, just meant to be lived. Problem is that many of us (including yours truly) don’t always get that and spend a lifetime looking for it.
So Ron has probably got the right idea. If we can't help adding meaning to it anyway, we may as well choose a meaning that serves us. And there's the next challenge for many of us.......

[Starbuck]

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, we not only discuss counterinsurgency tactics, but also the meaning of life itself.

[Schmedlap]

I'm curious - since this thread was started by the moderator - what prompted this question?

[Starbuck]

I'm guessing it has something to do with the implications of trying to impose value "x" on a society that truly believes in value "y".

[marct]

I'm guessing it has something to do with the implications of trying to impose value "x" on a society that truly believes in value "y".

That would be my guess as well - at least in part. One of the things I've noticed is that it is always a good thing to challenge our own assumptions if for no other reason (and there are others ) than that we will not automatically block our perceptions. I remember reading an interview with a PRT person who said there was no social infrastructrure in Iraq - blithely ignoring the kinship based system that had been operating for millenia because it didn't match his preconceptions of what a social structure should be.