Macher:
1) Killing the messenger won't alter the reality of the message.
2) Language is a "labor saving" device to simplify the complexities of the perceptual. Word symbols represent reality, they are not the reality itself.
3) Ad Hominem doesn't answer anything.
4) If the individual themselves is not to define their own standards and hence right and wrong, who is? "society" (whatever that is), "majority rule", who decides your standards?
5) If you think you know an intrisic definition of the word symbol "moral", without a standard of value, define it. You can't. It is always applied using some standard, even if only implied or implicit.
6) I repeat, words symbols represent reality, they are not the reality itself.
7) I agree, the entire thread is far removed from tractors. But I did not start the thread-read the whole thing. It wanders about. My response dealt with the thrust of other comments on a broader level.
8) I repeat, killing the messenger will not alter the reality of the message.
9) Don't be afraid.
JEH