William David, Kipp, Michelle, I thought all your points were really interesting and the stories you all shared moving. Placing faith in the law allows many of us to sideline questions of morality altogether, leading us to participate in many forms of contemporary slavery.

I wonder if the same is true of being "moderate". This label is often given respect -- it connotes rationality, compromise and restraint. Sometimes this respect is deserved, but there are times when it is misplaced. In the past, I have found myself retreating to the moderate position frequently, even when my heart lies to the left of an issue. Doing so is easy--it is convenient. But recently, I have grown less satisfied with the fact that my principles function like a pendulum, always culminating in a compromise between two positions. Equilibrium is not justice. It is just that the position can feel so comfortable that we delude ourselves into thinking that it is.

When does being moderate stop being right? In the world of John Brown, to be moderate meant to accept some forms of racism and discrimination, short of slavery itself. For this reason, even abolitionists of the era were quick to disassociate themselves from his mission. It was in the interest of being moderate that the ratifiers of the 14th amendment chose to abolish slavery but retain segregated schools. Moderate positions allow society to move the fulcrum closer toward justice, without demanding it outright. But in a lot of instances this simply means allowing injustice to persist in a slightly dampened way.

The link in William's initial post a good provided a good example of this phenomenon: modern warfare. Today's militaries are governed by treaties of war, and armies have developed codes of conduct. Perhaps it can be said that society has advanced in that we can no longer(openly) pillage, rape, burn, and commit acts of genocide against our enemies as did the armies of the distant past. But at the same time, our posterity may view our modes of war as equally barbarous to the way we view the gladiators of Ancient Greece or soldiers of the Spartan armies. Today, to advocate for pacifism seems to be an extreme position, yet it may not be extreme forever. In 1859, it was okay to discuss the depravity of slavery, but to do something about it was treason. In 1870, it was reasonable to allow Black people the right to vote, but proposing to extend this right to women was rebellious. Radicals are vindicated by hindsight. What happens to moderates?

-- TomaLivshiz - 14 Mar 2012