From: Kai Becker (kmb@cameron.kn-bremen.de)
Date: Thu Jan 23 2003 - 02:49:15 MST
Am Donnerstag, 23. Januar 2003 02:44 schrieb Lee Corbin:
> I think that you are exaggerating, perhaps deliberately for
> effect.
A bit, yes. Just because it makes me sick to get so quickly judged.
> What mainly distinguishes so called "first world"
> countries is rule of law. Second is economic and technical
> progress, and a close third is form of government (where
> this is independent of the most important "rule of law").
Have you seen the large amount of cases, where innocent people were
convicted, sometimes even executed? Hundreds of cases which can now be
proven by DNA checks. And these are only the clear cases. You may
estimate, how many innocent people are in jail, in the country with the
highest rate of jail inmates in the western world.
Have you seen those "boot camps" or the prison of that silly sheriff in
Arizona, where the human rights and the dignity of the inmates end at the
front gate?
The GDR has also been "lawful". States following the Sharia are "lawful".
It's the moral quality of the law that matters.
> "Human [legal] rights" are still fully protected for all
> citizens, except for statistically insignificant cases
> that definitely occur in large ( >100M ) countries.
>
> "Big Brother" happened in Orwell's book, [...]
> but no longer occurs [...] So is the U.S.
Well, from my view, gathering lists with customer names plus book titles
from book shops and libraries, customer lists from diving schools, FBI
"interviews" with people saying something against the government, the
president or way of politics, is as "big brother" as Gestapo and GDR
Stasi have been. Putting poeple into jail without any notice, no charges
given, no lawyer present for months, fits into the "disappering people"
scheme of banana republics. It surely does not fit into the picture of a
country claiming to be the moral leader of the "free" world.
> Perhaps you need a vacation. In California.
Oh, thanks :-) I have been there - and through the west, nine weeks long.
Nice trip, beautiful landscape. We even met natives. Very funny people.
Most of them didn't know where Germany really is; asked if we came all
the way by car. Some asked if we still celebrate Emperor Wilhelm II.
birthday, some others if Hitler still rules. And for the more trivial
questions: yes, we do have microwave ovens and electric light, no, we are
neither living in tents nor in caves :-)
No, I am not anti-american, not even anti-US. In my opinion, there's
something wrong with the system (see human rights above), the government
(see Iraq war) and the double measure of ethics. From my point of view,
the US regime has left the way of the Golden Rule and the Categorical
Imperative both, in internal and international politics.
Kai
--
== Kai M. Becker == kmb@cameron.kn-bremen.de == Bremen, Germany ==
"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced"
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