From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Thu Sep 12 2002 - 12:52:58 MDT
[rhinoceros]
Well, there is the "point of view" point of view. There is also the
quasiabsolute point of view defined by our morality. Morality is
informed by the first one ("it could happen to me too") as well as by
social experience (social effects of accepting a practice such as
torture).
This is a goal/means issue. Take, for example, the hate memes recently
tossed around. Millions of eleven year old kids are catching them.
Although the hate propaganda may or may not succeed in achieving its
goals in the short term, those kids will still be around after a few
years. Statistically, some of them will become social rejects for
completely unrelated reasons, and then they will turn against society as
they have done in the past.
The same holds true for the morals of the international community and
the recent trend to discard rules of behaviour which have been
established through painful historical lessons. It seems Russia has
already caugh on this new informal Holy Alliance (or is it formal?),
according to an articla posted by Hermit on the BBS
Using the US' arguments
http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=7;action=display;threadid=1
1541;start=150
In an international environment defined by the rule of force, eventually
more incidents will follow. Should one use rational thinking informed by
history and social sciences or just wishful thinking to predict where
the new morality in international relations is going to lead? I haven't
seen much discussion about this.
[Blunderov]
So it appears that we inhabit two worlds simultaneously? There is the
global world where nations interact with one another on the basis of
realpolitik, and there is the world of people who interact with one
another on the basis of what is considered to be right or wrong.
Given that this distinction is not all that obvious, one could wonder
whether "criminals" are simply confused rather than bad; how much can
they be blamed for emulating the heroes of the nation?
How is it that the "sometimes a real man/woman has to take the law into
his/her own hands to get the 'true' justice that the system is too
pansy-assed to provide" meme is so very prevalent in modern popular
culture?
I suspect that it might be good to reconcile these two worlds. (While
I'm busy with my wish list I would also like to mention that I would
like an anti-gravity engine. Thank you for your attention wherever you
are.)
Warm regards
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