Recently I've run across a new set of criteria for comparing and contrasting moralities, called the Moral Foundations. As of yet, they've identified five, possibly six, axis that seem to show up in a lot of different cultures. The five which are fairly solid in their system are: care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, sanctity/degradation, and the sixth new one is liberty/oppression - which was pealed off from fairness and offers a counterpoint to authority and loyalty. One of the fun things about the related Your Morals website is that you can participate in a variety of studies, getting a picture of your own moral compass and where you stand relative to other people. It's very US-Centric, and very focused on the Democrat/Liberal and Republican/Conservative divide, where the political party is assumed to have a 1:1 correlation to the ideology. It is also weirdly divorced from tangible things, and there's a presumption of monotheism/atheism and a use of some dog whistles which gave me pause. For example, the term "unnatural" was used, as was "chastity", and the 'religious' question referenced God. I had to struggle with my knee-jerk responses to those terms, as they've been used a lot by people whose politics are different than mine, but they have native meanings beyond those dog whistles.
I also found myself struck by the ideas of sanctity, which could have a Christo-centric meaning, but which has religious meaning for myself as well - and also intersects with one of my basic moral axioms, which is of beauty. I am simultaneously intrigued and skeptical about this identification of axioms, and despite the claims of universality, I find the focus on US-Centric politics troubling. I've had some fun taking other tests to see how I play out in comparison to "liberals" and "conservatives" and it's been interesting to see where I leave both of them behind, and where I split the mean between them.I'm still turning the terms chosen and the various implications of the researcher through my head; while he talks a lot about how Liberals tend to not value loyalty, for example, I have found that Liberals don't value loyalty until you aren't being loyal to them; likewise, while there is a lauded and vocal disrespect for authority among many liberals, the backlash if one critiques one of their authorities can be harsh. They don't seem to have much in place currently to test for implicit values as opposed to explicit ones, and I'm not convinced the two are the same; either that, or implicit values can distort explicit ones rather severely.
In contrast to my heavy, thoughtful thoughts - my outfit today is all sorbet pastels. The whole look was inspired by this ANE miniskirt in an astonishing combination of pastels. It was available in other, less splooshy collections of colors, but I went right for the closest to rainbow I could find and never looked back. The design is very simple and edged such that it takes light very well, offering up a bright or dark line as the situation suggests. I also quite liked the slit in the back, which offered up interesting shadows depending on my leg position. The hair, a free gift at the Hair Faire from Exile, was simply perfect with the colors. I love how each color is stripy and blends with the others while remaining distinct. My shoes, a new release at My Attic from Has Been, were another handy find - with each section tintable, I could get the sorbet feel that had been set by my hair and dress only this time in layers of soft color.
