The second problem with the Golden Rule is that it does not always apply. People are different. What is beneficial to one may not be beneficial to others. Think of a person preparing his favorite steak recipe for a vegetarian, a Christian imposing her views on a devout Muslim, or a nation imposing its way of life on another nation.
Many people follow the Golden Rule to a certain extent, but usually live their lives by another rule: “Do unto others as they do unto you.” If someone is kind to you, you are kind in return. If they treat you with disrespect, you disrespect them. What is interesting about this other rule is that it just happens to be one of the main teachings of Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey. This reactionary version of the Golden Rule is perhaps more realistic than the traditional version, but obviously not ideal.
A much more accurate version of the Golden Rule might be something like, “Do the right thing.” Bam! Plain and simple. If it’s good enough for Spike Lee, it’s good enough for humankind.
It’s not as if we need a new Golden Rule. Simply adopting a new universal Golden Rule would not bring about worldwide utopia. But seriously, it should be considered. “Do the right thing” doesn’t impose one’s tastes or views on another like the traditional rule does. There is no ambiguous “other” to have to interpret.
Of course, there is that pesky phrase: “right thing.” What is the right thing? What is right for one isn’t necessarily right for the other. Bah! Scratch that.
“Respect.” There it is. That’s the new Golden Rule. It’s all about respect.
Article comments
1 - bob dobbs
Nope, L Ron Hubbard said,
[quote]ENEMY SP Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by
any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the
Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.
LRH:jp L. RON HUBBARD
Copyright (c) 1967 Founder
by L. Ron Hubbard
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED[/quote]
An "enemy" is anyone who dares criticize Scientology, does'nt sound like the golden rule to me.
2 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Well,I'm not for any particular religion nor am I religious but Scientology is just a fucked up cult.
I'm pretty sure their teachings recently killed a child...
3 - bliffle
Scientology? Does anyone still believe that stuff?
It's a parody of religion invented by a science-fiction writer. A bad science-fiction writer.
4 - Max
The Platinum Rule is:
Treat others the way they WANT to be treated.
5 - Todd Hebert
The Platinum rule is flawed too. What if the way they WANT to be treated is unfair or harmful to others.
6 - Max
Can you give an example of that?
Also, there is a rule after Platinum, where you treat people the way they didn't know they wanted, but this requires some assumption on the part of the 1st person, so it is flawed as well...
7 - Terryeo
Today, certain critics of a certain religion were angered to learn their protests are forbidden by law. More specifically, when protesting, they are not allowed to stand on the protestee's property. In the lastest twist of fate, they can not even block egress to it by blocking the public sidewalk it sits on! The media, of course, hoping to create yet more anger, publicized the "50 foot rule".
8 - bob dobbs
Terryeo, as a Scientologist, can't refute what I've said so he brings up an irrelevancy. This is not a personal attack, Scientologists are trained
to "always attack,never defend" in the words of
L Ron Hubbard. I could find more cited quotations
form Hubbard to prove my point.