Evil-doer proof perplex

[Jim Strong]

Good and evil, right and wrong, tolerance and
intolerance, non-violence and violence - all these
things, Roger, are most often defined and/or justified
in the mind of the beholder/doer of the deed.
------------------------------------------------
The issues that are clearer to me personally are the
obvious cases of abuse like the Enron scandal - which
still is in its infancy, the manipulation of the stock
market that has gone on forever, and the people in the
world who don't have the basics to survive - food,
shelter and clothing.
-------------------------------------------------
The thing about violence, it seems to me, is it is a
VERY BIG "First Step" issue. You really don't want to
take that first step and go there unless there is no
other choice. I tend to side with Voltaire's
suggestion (the only excuse for intolerance is
intolerance) and extrapolate accordingly. Governments
or religions that posit it is "okay" to be intolerant
of those different from them, or to do harm to or
"minimize" those who do not believeas they do or who
don't buy into the same rituals of belief systems as
theirs are the problem to me. Whether it is the
Spanish Inquisition, the New England Witch trials,
Joseph Stalin, the Khmer Rouge (champion small country
killers of all time) or any other
organization/political party/church or government that
wants to do anything but provide a fair, basic level
of services to the population.
-----------------------------------------------------
Your earlier reference to a "journalist" who is using
a psuedonym to reveal the "TRUTH" about American
casualties in Afghanistan is an example of what I am
talking about. It appears you accept almost blindly
the premise (upon which it obviously is based ) that
this is the Pentagon/MACVSOG Viet Nam Body Count
Apparatus in action once again. I doubt that they are
that blatantly stupid this time. If casualty numbers
are being "cooked," the guv-mint will pay the
credibility price once again in the end. But at least
even the Neanderthals at Fox News (hume et al) use
their real names. 
---------------------------------------------------
In any case, I'd rather take my chances with Donald
Rumsfeld than Joseph Stalin, or with the Israeli
Cabinet than Hamas. You probably should too. The
difference is, I think, Joe would have you liquidated
right away for having politcal ideas beyond those of a
proper Marxist-according-to Joe parrot, and Hamas
would slip the semetec in your luggage and blow you
(as an innocent, non-involved bystander) and a plane
full of other people up without a second thought or a
"by your leave."
---------------------------------------------------
The tape conspiracy theory of course is the icing on
the dogmatic cake. If Hollywood was going to so it, it
would be digitally done - and perfect, and very clear.
----------------------------------------------------
Billy Jim


 





--- Roger Baker <rcbaker@eden.infohwy.com> wrote:
> On the positive side, this is the key smoking-gun,
> coffin-nail evidence
> sufficient to convince a sometimes sceptical world
> that bin Laden
> did indeed do the dastardly deed that caused
> everything to change
> forever in the United States, etc.
> 
> But on the other hand if we do release the evidence,
> it is of such a
> nature that it will appear to many like it was
> fabricated by the CIA.
> 
> Therefore it is best that we take the word of Dick
> Chaney who would
> never lie to us about such things. The evidence is
> extremely solid, 
> however
> the risk of terrorism would only be strengthened,
> overall, if this 
> evidence
> were actually to be made public, so it is probably
> wise not to release 
> it. -- R
> 
> 
> 
>    ******************************************
> 
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/10/international/10TAPE.html
> 
> 
> ...But within the administration, a debate has
> broken out over the 
> wisdom of
> making the tape public. Many in the White House
> argue that it will 
> bolster the
> case to the Arab world that Mr. bin Laden planned
> the attacks and portray
> him as so cold-blooded that his own followers did
> not know their mission 
> would
> result in their certain death. Others, however, are
> arguing that many in 
> the
> Arab world would find the discovery of the tape too
> convenient and charge
> that it was a creation of the C.I.A. and Hollywood
> collaborators. "The 
> quality
> is not good, the images are dark, and it would open
> us up to charges 
> that we
> fabricated it," one senior official said today...
> 


=====
The peace of the cosmos is infinite motion

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