From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Sun Jun 09 2002 - 22:00:43 MDT
I haven't read Fukuyama's book so I'll just respond to a couple of lines
from Damien's review:
> How remarkable, then, to find a thinker of
> Dr Fukuyama's conservative credentials adopting just this view--while
> warning us, inevitably, of the urgent need to stop it before we go blind.
Great line!
> Yes, "a person who has not confronted
> suffering and death has no depth", but we do not welcome anthrax for its
> existential spritzig.
I wish we could respond more aggressively to this sentiment, which I
find utterly horrifying. No one should get away with advocating that
suffering and death are good! Fukuyama and his ilk should be raked over
the coals for this.
There do seem to be some traditions in Western culture which find these
sentiments appealing. One variant is the sense that man is sinful and
suffering is his just punishment from God. Similar sentiments are held
by some of those on the left, who may not express them in such religious
terms, but who do seem to share the same pessimistic view of human nature.
We need to state clearly and powerfully that suffering and deprivation
are evil and that we will devote everything we have to stopping them!
And that death is the ultimate deprivation. I hope we can find a way
to express this which will expose the belief in the value of suffering
as the horror that it is.
Hal
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