Originally Posted by Suburbanite

Ethics are inessential, what you need is a set of clearly defined words. To say, as you did so vaguely, that (and let me phrase it better) to harm or humiliate another human being is the worst thing someone can do, is not to create an ethical standard. For it to be ethical or moral it would have to appeal to a sense of right and wrong, which are even more vague, and very difficult to define. However, your quote does not have to appeal to the traditional dichotomy of right and wrong to be effective. Instead by asserting your claim as a metaphor for the human condition, one realizes it is integral to view pain and humiliation as offensive to their victims in all cases of humanity. It is from there that one can then chose to exploit or prevent the exploitation of that metaphor, but often the realization and understanding of that metaphor, that truism, people can infere their own personal sense of justice.