From: "Kai Becker" <kmb@kai-m-becker.de>
> Now, who exactly is "they"? Don't we first have to find out, before we can
> actually speak about "members of their group"?
Unless you've been in a coma for the last three months, I should think it
would be obvious that "they" are the terrorist groups (bin Laden, et al.) who
contrived the September 11, 2001 attack.
> What about this Oklahoma lunatic, for example. Who was "they" in that case?
> Every white person? Every white christian person? Every person of his home
> town or state?
Yes, of course... and the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor were just
"lunatics" like Timothy McVeigh, right? ...and just because some "lunatic"
Germans bombed Europe and murdered millions of Jews, that was no excuse for
the Allies to try to take out Hitler and his minions, right?
> Let's say tomorrow they put you in a detention camp. Maybe you wear the
> wrong beard or they got the wrong address, whatever. Would it be okay for
> you, to be deprived of every chance to inform your family, speak to a
> lawyer, tell your boss, try to clear the misunderstanding?
Now, who exactly is "they"? Don't we first have to find out, before we can
actually speak about members of their group depriving you of every chance to
inform your family, etc.?
> BTW, the Geneva convention was made for "regular" wars, where the parties
> can be clearly identified. I haven't seen detention camps for suspected
> Mafia members yet.
Since this isn't a "regular" war, there's no justification for you to bemoan
the irregularities of its conduct. The idea of detention camps for suspected
Mafia members would probably play well with MADD (Mothers Against Disreputable
Delinquents).
©¿©¬
--- --- --- --- ---
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, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience, SETI
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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