From: Tom Andrys (toma@webbschool.com)
Date: Sat Jan 05 2002 - 19:00:04 MST
On Thu, 3 Jan 2002, Dossy quoted John:
> On 2002.01.03, John Clark <jonkc@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> > The question [snip personal 'dis] is how to prevent more thousands of
> > "irrelevant" Americans from being murdered by fanatical barbarians who
> > want to change the world by force and move it in a direction that is not
> > very Extropian.
John -- can you make the case that you equally distribute your
energies on a *per* death basis for each premature cause of death
that occurs in the U.S. (or the world)?
Dossy, I think that Mr. Clark was more focused on the /reason/ the victems
died. In this instance, some 3000 people died, yes. But the reason they died is
completely different from your list of statistics- intention. Bin Laden
*wanted* those people to do, whereas if somone died in an auto wreck, that is
O.K. because there was no intention. We know if poor little boy Jason fell off
a bridge, it was not somones intent, and we can, if we choose, decide to
attribute this act to a deity, thus giving us solace. The reason "accidental"
deaths can be sometimes extremely agitating, such as the Firestone Tire company
scandal in the US about a year or so ago, behind these losses we see people to
blame, the CEOs who covered it up or the designer who dident pay enough
attention.
If we take the Bin Laden case, its obvious we have a clear enemy whose fault it
is, thus designating the distinction.
-
Tom
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