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Originally Posted by davem
But they may take it 'seriously' as a work of fantasy with no relation to the real world, so I would still argue that their support of the 'evil' side cannot be used to judge their morality as far as the real world is concerned.
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I will note my disagreement and leave it at that.
Lal, as I made clear earlier, I accept that there are grey areas in the field of morality and ethics. Even with regard to torture, which some people might regard as justifiable to gain information in order to avert an atrocity (an argument which I consider fails logically, as torture is generally one of the less effective means of gaining reliable information). I can only speak from my own moral stance, but I believe that there is a large part of it which is shared by the society which I live in generally.
As regards the relationship between law and morality, there are very many areas of conduct which I would regard as immoral or unethical, even though not wrong in the legal sense. Similarly, there are laws enacted in some places of the world (even in the UK) which I find contrary to my own sense of ethics and morality. This is an area with which I am rather familiar, being the person responsible for the code of business conduct in the company for which I work, and for training people on both legal and ethical behaviour.
In any event, I would regard a momentary lapse in morality, such as in the circumstances we were discussing, as very different from taking a genuine delight in, and sympathising with, the torture and murder of innocents, even in a fictional fantasy setting. Neither, of course, are illegal.