26
Jun
11

picking up poop as a moral issue?

A couple of discussions of poop as a moral issue.  OMFG.

We asked recently WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?), and concluded based on the tweets of some of His followers, the He would probably not pick up His Dog’s poo.

Today, we ask, WWARD (What Would Ayn Rand Do)?

This question is considered by {dan-oliver} in “Atlas Shrugged (While Walking His Dog)“. He asks –

Is it immoral to neglect picking up after your pooch?

He notes “Because I am responsible for the actions of my dog, then I am also responsible for its bodily functions, as this is in itself an action, albeit a fairly routine one.”  Indeed.  But I have to admit getting lost with the somewhat forced connections made in the following discussion:

When one doesn’t pick up after their own, there is less incentive for the next person to do so. Atlas Shrugged is a compelling example of what happens to society when, due to indifference and decreased incentive, it’s most productive members stop producing. What would happen if we stopped the motor of the clean-up-after-your-dog world?

Ouch.  The ‘motor of the clean-up-after-your-dog-world‘!?!?!  Where are we going with this?  Have we really addressed what, exactly, the Objectivist take on dog poop might be?

I’m not so sure.

A link in that post leads to another “5 Situations Where It’s Morally OK” to leave dog poop behind.

Morally OK‘, indeed.  Read them for yourselves.

Framing the issue as “Dog poop crimes“, as one considered a ‘Moral‘ question,  as one where a person can feel ‘Morally Justified‘, or not…  Does this have any value for taking action in our community?  Or is it simply the relic of a very old, very stale world of ‘BAD’ and ‘GOOD’?


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