Victims - 2/6

            Everybody has told a “little white lie” at one point or another. A little white lie is when you fudge the truth just a little bit, but it doesn’t hurt anyone… or does it? According to a series of recent studies published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, both conservatives and liberals found many immoral acts to have victims. The acts stretched from those little white lies to things as horrid as bestiality. Everyone has a different moral scale, of course. The people who found the smaller issues to be problematic had an escalated sense of unease at the more dastardly offenses and showed more physical signs of distress.

          The link between judgments of immorality and perceptions of harm is called “dyadic completion.” Some acts have a complete dyad, like murder or thievery. The complete dyad means that they are completely wrong, and it is easy to see why they are wrong. But some of the tests revealed incomplete dyads in some more controversial acts such as the use of drugs, prostitution, and homosexuality. The incomplete dyad means that it’s not easy to see the result or outcome on a victim from these wrongs, but that doesn’t necessarily make them right.

It seems from this that you can get away with some of these minor things without anyone knowing, but the question that is then brought up is as follows: Can you be a homosexual/druggie/whatever without hurting those around you? The first conclusion one might come to is “Sure, if you’re just doing it to you then why not? It’s your body, do what you want!” But, let’s consult the Bible. Matthew 5:28 says “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” From this, we can gather that even thinking about a sin is just as bad as committing the act of sin itself. So, no, there is no victimless act. It might just seem like a little thing at the time, but remember that there is a victim to everything, and sometimes, you’re that victim.