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Author suggests that 9/11 murders were not evil, rather a difference in perspective
The Science of Good and Evil | 5/27 | Mike Thompson

Posted on 05/27/2004 5:38:42 AM PDT by mft112345

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To: mft112345
To achieve true understanding and enlightenment it might help to understand what the other side was thinking."

One undeniable fact is that if the terrorists win, history will not describe what they did as evil, it will in fact be described as brave and revolutionary. This is why the West must win this one, why we say it is a war over our very civilization.

However, if one subscribes to the theory of ethics that holds that there are some behaviors that we all agree are evil, then the killing of innocents must be among that list. In this respect they are true evil and it cannot be argued that they are not. Only if you first posit that some evil is OK is a theory that the ends justify the means going to be accepted.

21 posted on 05/27/2004 8:21:02 AM PDT by KC_for_Freedom (Sailing the highways of America, and loving it.)
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To: MarkL

I love this argument. My brother says the same thing.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, this true please explain the following:

Radical Isalm killing Eastern Orthodox Christians in Russia.
Radical Isalm killing Hindus in India.
Radical Isalm killing Sino-Bhuddists in Indonesia.
Radical Isalm killing Christians in the Phillipines
Radical Isalm killing Western Orthodox Christians in Africa.


22 posted on 05/27/2004 8:44:51 AM PDT by Dog Anchor
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Yeah, just like Michael Berg. < /sarcasm>

Yea a father willing to P**S on his son's memory for his own political gain, what a guy.. Mr. Berg belongs to A.N.S.W.E.R., need I say more, his son was a Bush supporter.

23 posted on 05/27/2004 8:50:57 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((The French can even build an airport))
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To: Mister Baredog
his son was a Bush supporter.

We have just his father's "word" on that.

24 posted on 05/27/2004 9:05:30 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (John Kerry - Not the Swiftest Boat in the Delta.)
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To: mft112345
"Nor is it simply a matter of who is in the right. It is, at least on one important level, a difference of perspective."

Well, let's take this idiot on his own words. He's sawing off the very branch he's sitting on. We should oblige him, and in so doing save a few trees.

25 posted on 05/27/2004 9:41:30 AM PDT by tsomer
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To: KC_for_Freedom

Well said and I agree, tho I'm not sure what you mean about the need to justify evil. I know that to remove a life-threatening cancer, some of the good flesh must be removed in the process. That is not evil nor is it justifying evil. It's a necessity. If the disease does not self-remit it will be time for the surgeons. I believe there is a Biblical metaphor concerning offending body parts. In this case, parts of the body of mankind.


26 posted on 05/27/2004 10:01:48 AM PDT by Eastbound
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To: Texaspeptoman
The evil deny the suffering of their guilt - the painful awareness of their sin, inadequacy, and imperfection - by casting their pain onto others through projection and scapegoating

And why the evil do this is also insructive.....to avoid pain themselves!

It's basic, craven fear with its comcomitant selfishness on display.

For those with "eyes to see", that is.

27 posted on 05/27/2004 10:06:08 AM PDT by patiodaddio
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To: Eastbound
I'm not sure what you mean about the need to justify evil.

I am not trying to justify evil, only to point out that those for whom the "ends justify the means" are the ones who are talking about justification of this type of evil. In my recollection, the group for whom "the ends justify the means" are the communists and socialists. One more note, reading "The Haj" and learning about the duplicity in the arab world and how this makes it easy for them to justify anything they do.

28 posted on 05/27/2004 10:10:02 AM PDT by KC_for_Freedom (Sailing the highways of America, and loving it.)
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To: KC_for_Freedom

Yes. Thanks for the clarification. That definitely is part of the pathology, if not the very root.


29 posted on 05/27/2004 10:19:15 AM PDT by Eastbound
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To: patiodaddio; Texaspeptoman; KC_for_Freedom
"The evil deny the suffering of their guilt - the painful awareness of their sin, inadequacy, and imperfection - by casting their pain onto others through projection and scapegoating"

"And why the evil do this is also insructive.....to avoid pain themselves!

It's basic, craven fear with its comcomitant selfishness on display.

For those with "eyes to see", that is."

Read recently about one of the benefits of accepting Islam. You get a clean slate regardless of what you were guilty of doing and are regarded with equal stature without the need to repent as though you didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

I can see why that would appeal to those in denial of the guilt hidden even in the deepest recesses of their hearts and refusing to come under conviction. With such a perspective, their 'sins' were self-justified and they continue to be practiced, condoned and accepted and believe they have no need of remission.

Self-deception -- the source of all sin. Abandoning their spiritual nature for the fruit of license.

I suppose that is why they have even stocked their version of 'heaven' with all the pleasures of the flesh. There has to be a pay-off somewhere for their 'submission' in terms they can relate to and look forward to. It's all about sex. Heh. Regretable.

And yes, Texaspeptoman, salient points! Guilt that is un-remitted hides deeper and causes psychosis. I think you're right about transference and casting its pain onto others. Strange that it's referred to as the religion of peace when nothing can be further from the truth. But I suppose Pax Islama is better than no peace at all if you've not known true peace. The old debbil rings up another sale, trading another bowl of porridge for another soul who forgot that the restaurant belonged to him in the first place.

30 posted on 05/27/2004 11:07:52 AM PDT by Eastbound
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To: mft112345

No absolutes in the universe, heh? Let him get thrown in a shredder and see if he shouts 'It's all relative!' on his way down the chute.


31 posted on 05/27/2004 11:25:37 AM PDT by Eastbound
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To: veronica

The only reason we need to know what the other side is thinking is to kill them more efficiently.

'Course, I'd like to see how long he'd last before ended up like Berg or Perl if he peddled this crap to the Islamofascists. They don't seem to "feel" any need to understand us...


32 posted on 05/27/2004 11:28:48 AM PDT by Little Ray (John Ffing sKerry: Just a gigolo!)
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To: Eastbound
The old debbil rings up another sale, trading another bowl of porridge for another soul who forgot that the restaurant belonged to him in the first place.

very well said!

33 posted on 05/27/2004 12:21:13 PM PDT by patiodaddio
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To: patiodaddio

Thank you! BTTT!


34 posted on 05/27/2004 4:10:29 PM PDT by Eastbound ("Ne'er a scrooge or a patsy be.")
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To: Eastbound
You get a clean slate regardless of what you were guilty of doing and are regarded with equal stature without the need to repent as though you didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

I don't know about this, wiping the slate clean has internal benefits, but whether the slate is clean on the holy register is something all men should be concerned with. In reading the Haj, (Leon Uris) and his take is that muslims have different levels of deprication regarding to whom the sin is related to. If an infidel, the sin is not so great. So what, evil will be defined as it is in the western countries, (that is judaism and christianity) when we win. If we don't win, not much will matter.

35 posted on 05/27/2004 6:00:33 PM PDT by KC_for_Freedom (Sailing the highways of America, and loving it.)
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To: KC_for_Freedom
" . . . but whether the slate is clean on the holy register is something all men should be concerned with."

True. And there is still time so long as the Spirit of Grace is present and the time alloted for it has not ended.

The life assurance premiums for all have been paid in full, though some have destroyed their policy thinking it has expired -- while others rejected the need for one altogether.

But the clock is still ticking . . . . . . .

36 posted on 05/27/2004 7:15:04 PM PDT by Eastbound ("Ne'er a scrooge or a patsy be.")
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