--- Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Reading your post this way, you appear to miss his > point. His complaint > was about people who put virtually everyone they > disagree with in the > immoral category. The complaint was not that > liberals thought some > conservatives, like Lott, were immoral, but that > they seemed to think > virtually every conservative was immoral. In other > words, his statement is > that a number of folks he differs with divided the > territory between > reasonable disagreement and immoral disagreement > improperly. They have a > far too small area for honest disagreement, pushing > virtually all of their > opponents into the "immoral" category.
This is exactly what I was trying to say, but much better written than I managed. > > A much more interesting question to explore Gautam's > position would be > whether an honest pacifist-- who, for example, > accepts that Hussein killed > more people in Iraq than are dying now--- still is > opposed to all use of > deadly force could reasonably conclude that no one > who is willing to kill > or support killing is acting morally. If so, then > Gautam would clearly > allow that a reasonable person could consider some > of his views > immoral...even though he has a different means of > applying morality than > they do. > > Dan M. I do feel that way. I have no doubt that Gandhi (for example) would say that my support of violent intervention to stop mass killings (in Iraq, but also, for example, in Rwanda) is actively immoral. Thomas Jefferson, to pick another example, would probably say the same. I disagree with them, but I believe their position is perfectly reasonable. In a way, I even admire it, actually. I don't feel capable of even aspiring to that kind of absolute moral purity - I just want to do the best that I can in a fallen world. But certainly, some reasonable and even admirable people would think that some of my beliefs, and the actions that I advocate because of those beliefs, are wrong in an absolute moral sense, not just a pragmatic one. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25� http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash
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