Re: Walking your talk (was : Aid for Afghanistan)

From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sat Jan 05 2002 - 08:38:56 MST


Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury@aeiveos.com> Wrote:

> 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)?
> The following cause more deaths annually in the U.S. than the 911
> attacks: Suffocation, Fires & Burns, Drowning, Poisoning by solids
> and liquids, Falls and Motor vehicle crashes (from lowest to highest).
> Motor vehicles, in particular kill more than an *order of magnitude*
> annually relative to the 911 attacks.

And cigarettes kill more Americans every two days than died in 911.
It's true that murder stirs up the reptilian parts of the brain more than
death by accident or death that results from a foolish decision on
the part of the victim. But there must be a reason for that, there must
be some wisdom in that sort of behavior or evolution would not have
preserved it for several hundred million years.
If a meteor were to crash through my roof and kill my daughter I would
be sad but not angry, if a person broke into my house and killed her I
would be both. I can't deter another rock from falling from the sky and
doing the same thing again but I might be able to deter another human
being from becoming a murderer.

>I don't see anyone here taking the "hawk" position over in Afghanistan
>attempting to "prevent more thousands of deaths".

If I thought the action in Afghanistan did not have good chance of
preventing thousands of more murders then even though my reptilian medulla
would still be crying for revenge my rational neocortex would outvote it and I
would recommend doing absolutely nothing as regards to 911.

>Where are the reports of letters written to consumer safety commissions?

You won't see any from me. Forcing people to double the price of a product and
tripling the difficulty of operating it in order to increase its safety by .01% is not
my cup of tea.

         John K Clark jonkc@att.net



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