I am so fortunate to have been influenced by intelligent, thoughtful people. Maria Rosales is one of those gifts that Ive been lucky enough to know. Shes an amazing professor, woman and human being. Her recent status is an excellent example of her astute reflection on current events: We all use bad logic sometimes, usually to justify something that part of us knows is unjustifiable. But just for the fun of it, I am going to translate some arguments Ive been hearing often lately into more abstract forms, so the ridiculousness of them is a bit clearer. a) It is okay that we hurt or kill these people because other people of their demographic group also mistreat or kill them. b) It is okay to hurt or kill these people because they hurt each other. c) It is okay to hurt or kill these people because a small subset of them have hurt or killed some of us. d) It is okay to hurt or kill these people because they were born on a different side of a border. e) It is okay to hurt or kill these people because in other parts of the world some people are doing worse things than we are. f) It is okay to hurt or kill these people because, while we knew that our actions were going to hurt or kill them, we didnt mean to hurt or kill them. g) It is okay to hurt or kill these people because other people want us to hurt or kill them to make us look bad. I am not entirely a pacifist--there are times self-defense is necessary, and there are even times when one has a very good idea that well-aimed violence can prevent a much worse harm. But if one needs to rely on the types of logic shown above, I think it is a good idea to reassess. Thank you Maria!
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 19:21:12 +0000
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