Jimmy Carter calls for fresh moratorium on death penalty

[Scootaloo]

14. The conclusion I've come to...

Everyone has ethics. it's a species thing, we've evolved as a social being since the days when we had tails, so chances are exceptionally good that we are born knowing - or at least with a strong propensity towards - the basic rules of ethics. and in fact this is bolstered by the fact that every culture, everywhere, has the same basic suite of ethics that basically amounts to "don't hurt other people and help them out if you can." We are naturally empathic and, while altruism is probably as much learned as inherent, we're still more altruistic than many other animals.

But then you have morality. and it's not necessarily a feature of religion,though superstition and fear make it a lot easier to sell. Morality is an ethical asterisk. "Don't hurt people unless they...," "help people out, except when...." This leads to everything from tribal revenge killings in West papua, to the barflies you were just talking about, morality is the notion that you should be a good person except when.