Quote Originally Posted by dukboy123 View Post
... our current view that every life is important and that life itself is precious, is pretty much a modern phenomenom and wasn't always so. In the middle ages, [...] Life was cheap.
And yet thousands of years ago there were even written rules forbidding killing. On the other hand saying that the thinking has changed does not necessarily mean that there is no objectivity. A poor, but blunt example: it is also the case that the views on the relative motion of earth and sun have changed during this same time.

Quote Originally Posted by kendoka2000
I think one of the points Rob W. was trying to express was that we judge others based on our cultural norms. Good or bad is only relevant when placed within these norms.
Surely culture, upbringing and such do affect these judgements. On the other hand it is possible to sensibly change ones outlook to differ from the surrounding norm making the case for a necessary cultural background a bit iffy.

What I was trying to poke at with the question of suffering was that if nobody gets hurt in this "play family" custom then one could suppose that it is not at the bottom something that is bad despite it going against what we are used to.

On the other hand if that or some other custom would produce terrible, unnecessary suffering to some parties, then we could and I hold with some caveats that we should condemn it and try to alleviate the situation. The caveats I hold concern my own fallibility - in no way do I presume that I am magically right when making these judgements, like with the initial response to the question of "play families" and that surely has to be reflected on the actions taken and the thoroughness of consideration.