From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Mon Sep 17 2001 - 15:42:50 MDT
I don't understand why we are even discussing these issues.
Do we not believe that people are innocent until proven guilty? Do we not
believe that murdering innocent people for personal gain is wrong? Do we
not believe that personal liberty and private property should be respected?
Do we not believe that free speech, competition, evolution, diversity, and
cooperation make the best policy? Do we not believe that other innocent
people deserve the same rights or freedoms that we demand?
These kinds of "calculations" are making big assumptions before the math
starts. These assumptions are that we should do whatever furthers our
cause, period. Then the calculations try to show that genocide might
further our cause. Why stop there? Wouldn't robbing a bank and using the
money for good further our cause? Wouldn't launching a select few into
space and then destroying the Earth be safer for us? Wouldn't enslaving all
of humanity give us more power? Wouldn't killing all people we don't
personally know be the utmost selfish act to get all the resources for
ourselves? Wouldn't the ultimate calculation score occur for the last human
left in the universe who inherits everything?
Since when did taking over everything and destroying others become a
worthwhile goal? Instead of using resources to build the best future, these
calculations seek simply to obtain all the resources. The scoring system
itself of this "game" is suspect. I'm not playing any sort of game by those
rules, and I am not seeking to win points under this scoring system. I
think there are major mistaken assumptions in these calculations. They seem
to be fighting for the most freedom for some people over others, instead of
freedom for all. We certainly would not agree to these calculations if they
showed that Western Civilization should be destroyed to gain the maximum
benefit for the terrorists.
What is scariest to me is that these are the exact kind of calculations that
all terrorists use. When our goals become so important that we are willing
to sacrifice unsuspecting innocents for our own benefit, we have become the
enemy. Anyone who contemplates this logic is contemplating terrorism.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
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