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the way i see it, pretty much anything that does or could do harm(to things capable of feeling or in the institutions, values and mental and emotional ties of these organisms) in some way is wrong, because this kind of harm is always wrong--because the one thing that defines something as being wrong across all cultures is pain of some sort. however, if more good or prevention of harm goes along with the harm that is inflicted, there is a sort of cancelling out, and the good that is left over is what we have--i suppose this is the best way to judge whether or not something is wrong, or more wrong than something else. as wyote said, anything that inflicts pain or harm is wrong, no matter how much good outweighs it, so it is a real shame when harmful acts must be taken to ensure a less harmful outcome. but it must be done sometimes--the best we can hope for is to avoid such scenarios as much as possible. still, universal harm doesn't come in convenient little countable units, so it's pretty much impossible to tell sometimes. anything that is considered wrong that does not involve harm or pain in some form is more than likely just a cultural norm that could very likely be eliminated several generations down the line, when the strength of its value weakens (i.e. cussing--what's the real difference between the words "shit" and "crap" besides our culturally taught emotional responses to them?)
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