I've been thinking about this, especially about the glee and Schadenfreude that surrounds the hack from online commentators. I'm uncomfortable with the online reaction.
The common way of thinking here seems to be, "Well, what they're doing is wrong, so they get what they deserve." Except that, you know, cheating on your partner isn't illegal. This means we're celebrating people getting punished excessively because they did a moral wrong.
Is this the society we want? Where you can do something legal yet receive punishment for it while the crowd cheers?
I'm not defending adultery, by the way. Not at all. You can switch "adultery" with any legal sexual activity (say, gay sex) that is seen as morally repugnant by a part of the population.
Only gay sex doesn't involve hurting and deceiving the people who love and trust you the most. This is why people are happy that the list was leaked. Not many people can empathize with a cheater, but they can easily remember a time when they were victimized by someone being a piece of shit.
I understand what you're saying, and I understand where the sentiment is coming from. I just think these feelings are not a good basis for conducting punishment in a civil society. It's vengeance by proxy, not justice.
I think the example of gay sex holds, because although you see no harm done with it, some people do based on their own moral compass. Not saying they're right--they're not. I'm saying the people who would want gays to be punished outside the law follow a very similar thought process, and their sense of right and wrong is not a valid criteria for justice in a civil society.
Hum...It did. Being gay had and still has in some places a strong taboo surrounding it. Families where gutted when one child outed themselves as gay, and the family couldn't cope with that. Religious families still today resort to exiling family members for that very purpose. People pressured into fitting in the heterosexual mold that later reveal themselves can break appart families, exactly like cheating does.
From the point of view of religious parents, being gay was an offense as worst if not worse than cheating, which can be kept under wraps depending on the situation. It was, to them, a morally disgusting act.
Except that, you know, cheating on your partner isn't illegal.
Actually, it is illegal in 21 states, so you can argue a percentage of those people were actually criminal and deserved to get caught regardless of any moral views.
...If they where in those states. Most of Ashley Madison's "clientele" probably wasn't, seeing as it was especially popular in Canada, where adultery is not a crime. What happens to them? Did they deserve it as well?
Also, Seeing as it isn't the law that did the job, but criminals, what happens then? Is it suddenly morally right to expose and publicly humiliate someone based on illegally obtained information?
I completely get what you're saying, but with the other "frowned upon but not illegal" activities you haven't explicitly promised (in front of a lot of people) that you would stay together - for life. It is different.
In any case, the hacker's motivation wasn't that at all - it was that the company behind Ashley Madison had promised to delete user data for $20 per user - but then didn't actually do it.
I've been thinking about this, especially about the glee and Schadenfreude that surrounds the hack from online commentators. I'm uncomfortable with the online reaction.
The common way of thinking here seems to be, "Well, what they're doing is wrong, so they get what they deserve." Except that, you know, cheating on your partner isn't illegal. This means we're celebrating people getting punished excessively because they did a moral wrong.
Is this the society we want? Where you can do something legal yet receive punishment for it while the crowd cheers?
I'm not defending adultery, by the way. Not at all. You can switch "adultery" with any legal sexual activity (say, gay sex) that is seen as morally repugnant by a part of the population.
Only gay sex doesn't involve hurting and deceiving the people who love and trust you the most. This is why people are happy that the list was leaked. Not many people can empathize with a cheater, but they can easily remember a time when they were victimized by someone being a piece of shit.
Hey pix, calm down. Been there too.
I understand what you're saying, and I understand where the sentiment is coming from. I just think these feelings are not a good basis for conducting punishment in a civil society. It's vengeance by proxy, not justice.
I think the example of gay sex holds, because although you see no harm done with it, some people do based on their own moral compass. Not saying they're right--they're not. I'm saying the people who would want gays to be punished outside the law follow a very similar thought process, and their sense of right and wrong is not a valid criteria for justice in a civil society.
Until gay sex begins tearing apart families and destroying the lives of partners that loved and trusted their spouses, there is not a connection.
We can agree to disagree.
Hum...It did. Being gay had and still has in some places a strong taboo surrounding it. Families where gutted when one child outed themselves as gay, and the family couldn't cope with that. Religious families still today resort to exiling family members for that very purpose. People pressured into fitting in the heterosexual mold that later reveal themselves can break appart families, exactly like cheating does.
From the point of view of religious parents, being gay was an offense as worst if not worse than cheating, which can be kept under wraps depending on the situation. It was, to them, a morally disgusting act.
Actually, it is illegal in 21 states, so you can argue a percentage of those people were actually criminal and deserved to get caught regardless of any moral views.
...If they where in those states. Most of Ashley Madison's "clientele" probably wasn't, seeing as it was especially popular in Canada, where adultery is not a crime. What happens to them? Did they deserve it as well?
Also, Seeing as it isn't the law that did the job, but criminals, what happens then? Is it suddenly morally right to expose and publicly humiliate someone based on illegally obtained information?
I completely get what you're saying, but with the other "frowned upon but not illegal" activities you haven't explicitly promised (in front of a lot of people) that you would stay together - for life. It is different.
In any case, the hacker's motivation wasn't that at all - it was that the company behind Ashley Madison had promised to delete user data for $20 per user - but then didn't actually do it.