From: "Mike Lorrey" <mlorrey@datamann.com>
> When I hear such whines, I am reminded of the situation in Lebanon in
> the early 1980's. Several dozen Americans were held hostage by Hezbollah
> and Islamic Jihad. They tried to do the same to some Soviet citizens.
> The KGB in return kidnapped relatives of the terrorists and mailed them
> their relatives testicles. The Soviets were released several hours
> later. Our citizens remained in captivity because our agents were
> restricted from such measures.
True enough, but the KGB is now defunct (along with the evil empire that
spawned them), and our agents are still going strong (amidst complaints that
they are infringing civil liberties).
BTW, I recently viewed the former American hostages on Fox News, and they're
still upset about having been abandoned. Apparently the general public is not
ready to resort to KGB tactics, since the hostages did in fact eventually get
back home.
Rather than torture and maim religious fanatics, I favor compassionate
treatment in the extreme: Send them all to the paradise they so fervently
trust.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:16 MDT