"An Eye For An Eye And A Tooth For A Tooth": The Long, Plodding Advance Of Human Morals

Clarence Thomas, Merrick Garland's Theft, Brett Kavanaugh: 3 Thoroughly Bogus Supremes

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/09/clarence-thomas-merrick-garlands-theft.html

Alan: Unless Professor Blasey Ford is off her rocker, it is overwhelmingly likely she's telling the truth.

The odd thing is that I would not be overly eager to condemn Kavanaugh for what he did at age 17, especially given "the times."

I realize my proposal of indulgence sounds harsh and insensitive, although I will mention that a good friend who was raped as a girl agrees with me.

We humans have deep zoological roots and, accordingly, our moral norms undergo long, slow development. 

Just ponder the moral murk and outright turpitude that "half" of Americans consider "normal" in the Age of Trump.

And, in my own Judeo Christian tradition, most people think it's horrible that the Old Testament enshrines a moral code that exchanges "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."

In fact, the Law of the Talion (as this exchange is called) was, in its time, a staggering advancement in moral thought.

Until then, it was assumed that if someone had "done you wrong," it was your right (if not your moral obligation) to seek vengeance, and to seek it without limit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_for_an_eye

If a man maliciously poked your eye out, you could (and, out of "honor," probably "should") kill that man (and his wife), seize his property, and make his children your servants.

Prior to lex talionis, there was NO established moral norm for retributive proportionality. 

Come hell and high water!

Bring it on!

What I find singularly reprehensible about Kavanaugh is his mendacious denial of what is almost certainly true, and his interrelated willingness to represent an apparently good woman whom he sexually assaulted when she was 15 years old, as The Liar.

At least in the congressional process now unfolding, this (reasonably presumed) lie is unforgiveable.

Hopefully we will learn more when, and if, Ms. Blasey Ford testifies on Capitol Hill.

Clarence Thomas, Merrick Garland's Theft, Brett Kavanaugh: 3 Thoroughly Bogus Supremes

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/09/stanford-university-medical-school.html

Stanford Psychology Professor Christine Blasey Ford Alleges Sexual Assault By Kavanaugh

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/09/stanford-university-medical-school.html