Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 15:08:31 -0600 (MDT) From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: eivind@yes.no, jcwells@u.washington.edu Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Does it's true? Message-ID: <199806272108.PAA20565@softweyr.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980627093956.501A-100000@s8-37-26.student.washington.edu> References: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980627093956.501A-100000@s8-37-26.student.washington.edu>
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My hidden microphone recorded Jason C. Wells (jcwells@u.washington.edu) saying:
% On Sat, 27 Jun 1998, Eivind Eklund wrote:
%
% >where it is considered OK to murder people. (If you, the reader, say
% >to yourself that you don't consider it OK, then you'd better be
% >actively opposing the use of death penalty - otherwise you've just
% >turned your logic off in what you say to yourself)
%
% Not everything that causes death is murder. Not even everything that
% causes a wrongful death is murder. In the United States we divvy out
% justice based on "mens rea" or criminal intent. A cold blooded killer is
% guilty of a capital offense whereas a negligent causer of death is guilty
% of a less than capital offensel.
%
% The people of the United States reserve the lawful right to punish the
% capital offender by death. Until the people change this law, execution
% will not be murder.
We also reserve the right to kill anyone who attempts to bring down
the lawful government of the United States, either from within or
from outside threat. This is not considered "murder" here, nor in
any other country I know of -- yours included, Eivind. So, is it
always wrong to kill human beings, or are you dabbling in situational
ethics as well?
% It is never OK to murder people. No one in the US will say it is. Of
% course, as you can see by my discussion, which act consitutes a murder is
% subject to debate.
Correct. As you point out, the statement "it is never OK to murder people"
does not imply "it is never OK to kill people." Murdering people is a proper
subset of killing people, but the two are not the SAME set.
I absolutely bristle every time someone comes up with the example of that
asshole on the Long Island commuter train to killed 14 people with a revolver,
reloading twice in the process. If just ONE law-abiding citizen on that train
had been armed and trained to use his or her weapon effectively, he wouldn't
have gotten more than one or two. And those who laid there while he reloaded
TWICE...
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com
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