Dan Minette wrote: >> While they continue to define and opine at some length, I think they >> miss the point that some wars are just (eg Kuwait) and while we see war >> x as just, other cultures will see war y or war z as just. > > So, is right and wrong simply a byproduct of culture? If the South had won > the Civil War, would that have made slavery right?
To some extent I think right and wrong is a viewpoint. Some wars are always wrong no matter how you look at it, and some are always right, but there are plenty of wars where the "rightness" depends on your background. Some people believe we should never have intervened in Korea, but the prosperity and happiness of the people of South Korea contrasted with the suffering and misery of North Koreans suggests to me we did the right thing. Some people believe we should never have intervened in Vietnam, and a review of the unpopular and inept regime we were supporting suggests to me we did the wrong thing (completely leaving aside the way the war was fought). But either way, different people have different ideas on whether or not those wars were just. The recent Israel/Palestine thread shows that what one person sees as a just war, another will see as the personification of evil. Cheers Russell C.
