[Louis Foxwell]

Sir John,
I am fully aware of the trap that collective guilt has gotten us into. That is not what I am hearing here. It is more a matter of collective unconscious, it you will.
I agree that it is not helpful to extrapolate from the general to the specific. I certainly feel no guilt for Auschwitz or for slavery and I stand foresquare against Muslim fanatics. Our society, however, has been late to all of these parties.
By society I do not mean government. You might enjoy a discussion of that fine distinction at "Freeper Investigation: Original Intent and Constitutional Jurisprudence": http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1487129/posts?page=119#119
As a society we remain guilty of the fuzzy thinking that tolerates a culture of death.

[faireturn]

Look, I am not being dense here; I fully understand the author's point.

The use of "we" can be an effective rhetorical device to underline an argument, and no doubt I've slipped into that a time or two.
But we need to be careful, because this kind of fuzzy thinking is just one step short of liberalism (such as the group guilt concept of "social justice" and other oxymorons) or worse.
33 SirJohnBarleycorn

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I agree that it is not helpful to extrapolate from the general to the specific.
I certainly feel no guilt for Auschwitz or for slavery and I stand foresquare against Muslim fanatics. Our society, however, has been late to all of these parties.

By society I do not mean government.

As a society we remain guilty of the fuzzy thinking that tolerates a culture of death.

40 Amos the Prophet

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I agree with John, as I too understood the authors point, and made my own regarding his liberal/socialistic style of writing.


You claim that:

" -- As a society we remain guilty of the fuzzy thinking that tolerates a culture of death. -- "

Yet you " -- agree that it is not helpful to extrapolate from the general to the specific. -- "

I find a dichotomy in those two thoughts.. Can you explain?