On Mon, 17 Sep 2001, Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Sep 2001 20:01:54 -0400 (EDT), Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > On Sun, 16 Sep 2001, Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
>
> >> This is most clearly the act of a most depraved,
> >> sociopathic, and criminal band of barbarian marauders. To protect
> >> civilized society from their kind, they must either be exterminated or
> >> put into cages.
>
> > How sad that "we" seem to have devolved back to
> > crying for the establishment of another Manzanar
> > (or worse).
>
> The above statement was in no way intended to have been
> interpreted as a call for the establishment of concentration
> camps for any national or ethnic group or religious organization.
> It was offered only as the expression of an anti-crime sentiment.
> Among those who fit into the same category of barbarian marauders
> described above I would include also Timothy McVeigh and the
> Unabomber Kazinski and their ilk. You will note that the
> statement makes no reference to any race, nationality, or religion.
I was pretty sure you weren't calling for the
establishment of such. Note the word "seem."
However, a term such as "their kind" is sufficiently
vague, yet inclusive, as to have been able to easily
convey that implication. Those words you used which
do have more specific meanings also point away from
a McVeigh/Kazinski meaning:
barbarian, n. a member of a people or group with a
civilization regarded as primitive, savage, etc.
marauder, n. a rover in search of booty or plunder;
a plunderer; a freebooter
exterminate, v.t. to destroy completely; to wipe out;
to extirpate; as, to exterminate weeds or vermin
That's one of the greatest problems with such
inflammatory rhetoric. It's hardly ever very specific,
so is easily open to misinterpretation.
When we speak of killing and/or caging people, we
need to be VERY specific who, and under what
circumstances, we mean.
Justice and vengeance are two quite different goals,
and the language used to advocate them needs to also
be kept quite distinct.
To summarize, you seem to be speaking the language of
vengeance when we should be speaking the language of
justice.
- Steve
