Kuu

Poverty is no excuse.

I had to raise 3 children, including two with handicaps, while on a benefit from the Australian government. Any aboriginal woman with three children would have got the same amount as money as me. I lived in a housing department area, the average income in my neighbourhood used to be in the lowest 10% of the nation. But I knew of no-one who 'had to sell their kids'

The poverty in Aboriginal communities is manily cased by alcoholism not by the low income.

This alcoholism is also one reason wht aboriginal law does not work. The laws are old and were made without the presence of alcohol and also without the absence of money.

jasonpiao

How old was Hugh Hefner when he married that woman in her twenties a few years back?
I wonder if money was any issue there? NAW, she loved him like a father...oops, I mean like a very rich old man.
I am not trying to suggest that this girl being coerced is equal to marrying for money, rather I think it worth mentioning that the horror being voiced over the age difference is somewhat self righteous.
We certainly know that good christians would never prey upon the young for their own gratification. Especially not the clergy.
Honestly,I can't think of countless stories of western men 'preying' upon younger women.
Honestly, the media is not full of teenage girls advertising everything from cars to webcams with in a 'sexy, fun' fashion.
When I lived in Asia, I NEVER saw men from western countries buying sex from teenage girls. They didn't fly in by the tens of thousands every year, and NONE of them were members of the American military.
Luckily we can take solace in the fact that this is the devilish immorality of those damn savages. Some good christian programmaming will straighten them out. Heck, it worked on us!
<img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" /> Disclaimer: I am in no way condoning the purchasing of wives of any age nor the coercion of any woman into sex.

Amen-Moses

I am unaware of any other way of getting a womans knickers off except coercion!

Amen-Moses

MadMordigan

Bribery.

MadMordigan

Bribery.

MadMordigan

And repetition.

Monkeybot

I don't think the main objection is the age difference, it's that she's under the age of consent, and the judge ignored that because "she knew what was expected of her". (Do I have this right?)

What does any of this have to do with anything? You are aware this is an atheist message board? I think he difference between many of the examples you cite and this one is the judge's reaction (correct me if I'm wrong). I have no doubt that if a judge wrote off a similar case happening to an affluent, white suburban 15-year-old girl, he'd be thrown out on his ass. So the question is, why would a white 15-year-old girl be protected (or at least have some modicum of justice done), while an Aboriginal 15-year-old girl is told that "she knew what was expected of her"? Doesn't this strike you as slightly troublesome?

jasonpiao

I am very aware that this is an athiest message board.
My remarks are all relevant, as my scorn was not at the question of her age or innocence. It was at the remarks posted saying that this cultural abbheration should not be above the law and morals of our superior ways. When you judge others by your own moral standards, obviously they will fail in your eyes. I myself find it morally repugnant to torture people in the name of god, but it has been carried out in the past. We know better now, or course...I hope.
What I wished to point out was the very standards by which some were accusing the people involved in the story of being of a lesser culture are just as easily applied to our own culture. The result is an endless list equally repugnant by the standards mentioned.

MadMordigan: Bribery? You mean like, I will buy you a big ring and provide for you, I promise? hehe

Primal

1) What standards specifically are you saying apply to our culture or ethical beliefs and come to the same consequnces as they do say, Puritan culture?

2) Do these different standards in societies spring in any way from different views of human nature,superstitions or different views of reality? If so, by saying such standards are equal don't you have to say that the beliefs underlying such standards are equally true?

3) Are you saying that there are no over-all patterns to human behavior or socities in respect to values and morals?

4) If all standards are equal and formned randomnly then why is it societies evolve in complexity (bands-tribes-chieftoms-states for example) and standards are regional instead of there being random distribution?

5) Even if no standard can be said to be more true or false, why can't a culture be invasive towards another culture, such a standard against invasion would itself then be a matter of cultural preference.

Monkeybot

All right - I think I understand what you're saying. I agree that we can get into dangerous territory when we declare "our" moral standards superior. At the same time, I have an extremely difficult time justifying the rape of a 15-year-old girl by saying it's part of "their culture." I believe the article stated that she was unwilling, so obviously not everyone in "their culture" agrees that it's all good. Maybe I'm just brainwashed, but I think the girl's right to choose her when, where, and with whom she has sex supercedes any cultural standard you can think of. (I realise you weren't justifying her rape or coercion, of course. What I'm trying to get at is -- where do we draw the line between the rights of the individual and non-interference with another society?)