Just because something is illegal, is it unethical and immoral?

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The magical disappearing posts.

Reverse it.
If something is illegal, is morally or ethically wrong?
 

Ameesh

Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
23,686
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Originally posted by: SammySon
The magical disappearing posts.

Reverse it.
If something is illegal, is morally or ethically wrong?

not neccesarily. again right and wrong are totally subjective, for instance

adultury in some countries is illegal some people like swingers dont consider it wrong and practice it all the time
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
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no because there are a ton of stupid laws to protect stupid people that have to business being in our society.
 

amnesiac

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
15,781
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Take for example, a very inert crime:
It is illegal to, say, take an application for insurance without being in the presence of the person applying.
If someone were to do that, it is considered fraud.
However, this law was not put in place because the act itself is unethical or immoral, but to prevent the unethical/immoral actions that could possibly be derived from the law not being in place. If I were to take an application from a very good friend whom I had known for years but lived out of the area, I would not be acting in an immoral or unethical fashion, but certainly an illegal one.
 

not neccesarily. again right and wrong are totally subjective, for instance

adultury in some countries is illegal some people like swingers dont consider it wrong and practice it all the time
I know. It was more rhetorical than anything.

Many in here think that law ~= right.
 

Bryophyte

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
13,430
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It used to be illegal for blacks to sit at the front of the bus. Was that a moral or ethical law? Of course not. It was sick.
 

Apathetic

Platinum Member
Dec 23, 2002
2,587
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Legality, ethics, and morality are all different.

Some examples:

Jay walking is generally illegal, but there is nothing unethical or immoral about it.

When the Nazis massacred people in concentration camps, it was legal under German law at the time, but it certainly was not moral.

One of the major difference between various cultures is what the individual people believe to me moral, ethical, and legal.

Dave