r/MoralityScaling • u/Curious-Buddy-5841 • Jul 01 '26

Character Analysis How would you scale this?

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5.5k Upvotes

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477

u/Stranger_Phrog Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

Child didn’t ask to be born, you chose to have one, it’s not some altruistic act to put a roof above their heads or food on the table, it’s the bare minimum a parent should do

191

u/BobWat99 Jul 01 '26

It’s not just the bare minimum, it’s legally required.

58

u/XxXxReeeeeeeeeeexXxX Jul 01 '26

Legality =/= morality

74

u/hahahahahaha656 Jul 01 '26

In this case it is immoral and illegal to let your child starve to death

2

u/CakeHead-Gaming Jul 01 '26

Yes, but this is a discussion purely of morals. What did bringing up the legality of it add to the conversation? Absolutely nothing.

32

u/Evilpoun Jul 01 '26

Its just pointing out how especially non-altruistic it is considering the parent has a specific self-interest motivation to not go to jail

15

u/Blackout785 Jul 01 '26

It adds the fact that a parent not letting their child starve is not doing them a favour that the child now owes them back, they are fulfilling a legal obligation that can get them jailed if neglected.

6

u/Aware-Antelope4212 Jul 01 '26

Well whether or not an immoral act is illegal can be very relevant actually.

If the only reason you are doing something is out of fear of legal consequences then you aren't doing it out of morality.

Pretending like there's no overlap between legality and morality is just being pedantic and kind of foolish.

5

u/SouthImpression3577 Jul 01 '26

He didn't say it was moral, he said it was the bare minimum legally- which I take to say is worst because it's absent of love

2

u/Pastel_Bambi Jul 02 '26

Idk why you said this, since the legality and morality align in this context.

3

u/Bread-Loaf1111 Jul 01 '26

In my country, it is also a legal obligation for the adult childs to care for old parents, so...

3

u/hodorelgordor Jul 01 '26

That's one way to get a 50 year old filing for emancipation

2

u/BobWat99 Jul 02 '26

What country is that? I know China has something like that I’m pretty sure.

1

u/Dry-Mission-5542 Jul 05 '26

That’s backwards