Often the worst evils are done for seemingly good reasons; people genuinely believe they're doing what's best for everyone. It is, in fact, that belief in doing some great good, that confers the psychological sanction for people to set aside moral inhibitions and commit great evil toward others - and the natural world.
Of course, in addition to cultural differences in how bad behavior is defined and experienced, there are also strong differences that seem to be associated with the natural variety in our mental-emotional-psychological makeup itself.
Men, in general, tend to prefer clearly defined and enforced rules, putting things into labeled categories with a set of agreed responses attached to each. Breaking the rules is viewed as itself a moral offense. Women, more often, prefer to take each situation as it comes, evaluate its many related component parts and reach a holistic conclusion which may include a large element of unconscious as well as conscious values and beliefs. You can't codify that type of decision-making process into a simple list of do's and don'ts.
Those with a predominantly male-type approach feel extremely uncomfortable with the female-type approach, and vice versa, to the point that each may very well consider the opposite approach as, in and of itself, a form of bad behavior, faulty thinking, unethical, reprehensible! Of course this isn't a strict dichotomy - more like a track running from one end of the line to the other. Any one person may find their comfort zone at any place along the route. I suppose those situated more toward the middle will be less upset most of the time.
Similarly, people who function with a dominance of the left brain will want verbally expressed, detailed lists and clearly delineated rules of behavior, while those with a right brain dominance will again look for a holistic approach that incorporates unconscious awareness. The same duality also characterizes strong mathematical, linear thinking in contrast to strong creative, non-linear thinking.
As you can see from this blog - I tend to be strongly non-linear and holistic, trying to expand the questions in a multiplicity of directions rather than collapsing them into a set of singular certainties. This is likely to drive the engineers among us to apoplexy... if they've even been able to read this far without grinding their teeth off.
You will also see that I'm not providing answers, just elaborating the question into a multiplicity of related complexities. But that's what I'm good at. Any answer that doesn't recognize and address the many different aspects of a problem can't very well actually provide a solution now can it. So I let you know the complexities and then one or more of you bright people may come up with some ideas for getting us through, around, or over, this really really troublesome aspect of our shared humanity.
see next blog for more differences that drive us crazy with each other
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