From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Mon May 06 2002 - 22:08:32 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote:
> Samantha writes
>
>
>>suffered by myself and my siblings. Are you implying my father
>>had some kind of right to beat us mercilessly... ?
>>
>
> What can I say? I don't know what you mean "if he had a right".
>
> Let me speak operationally. If you ask me about whether some
> legal right exists, then I know perfectly well how to determine
> that. I can examine the law books and the enacted statutes. I
> can also consult the district attorney's office, the police,
> or experienced judges and lawyers. Crucially, there is a fact
> of the matter.
Do you think the origin or validation of rights is simply what
is written down? In who's book? What was written down before
the American revolution denied us most of the rights the
revolution was fought for. Are rights then a matter of the
winning party?
But the reason I asked the above question is that you have said
or strongly implied that the government should not interfere in
the way parents treat their children.
>
> Likewise, I can determine operationally if X approves of
> proposition P. The most obvious recourse is to ask X if
> he or she approves of P. Over time, especially if I'm
> being thorough, I can converge to an answer of whether
> X approves of P. Also, I can observe X carefully and
> maybe find out if there's a difference between X's verbal
> support of P and X's actions.
>
Way too much in your head and not straight shooting.
>
> I even hesitate to use the word "should": but it's somewhat
> easy for people, I think, to see that I only mean "I approve"
> or "I think it best".
>
> As for your father beating you mercilessly, are you really
> surprised to hear that I strongly disapprove? Exactly what
> information were you after? Maybe you thought that I was
> one of those people who want there to be a law against
> everything I detest?
>
No. But I am surprised to hear that you think it is wrong to
have laws to prevent parents from such things.
- s.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:13:52 MST