-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 07:06 PM 8/21/97 +0200, Zooko Journeyman wrote:
By reciting mantras to one another emphasizing their sense of having been mistreated and their sense of having _unquestionable_ moral superiority, people in this situation persuade each other to become more and more fanatical in their attitudes, less and less in touch with reality, and less and less compassionate towards the "others" who have been demonized in the process.
Save that the people who *actually* go out of their way to rob, rule, and kill other people are worse. They don't work themselves up into a frenzy. They just rule, and steal, and kill with a smile on their lips confident that they're doing it for the good of their victims. Tim has never said that he was interested in robbing, ruling, or killing others apropos of nothing -- something governments do every day. Tim has merely said that he reserves the right to use deadly force to defend himself and that he was not interested in helping other people just because they "need" his help. He didn't say he *wouldn't* help. He just said he does not believe he is *required* to care or *required* to help. That is a morally superior position compared to those who insist on helping others at the point of a gun. I should also point out that at Tim's potential billable hours, the amount of time he has dedicated to "helping" others on the Net over the last many years would add up to a hefty sum. The fact that he did it for his own reasons makes him no different from anyone else. Even Mother Teresa does things for her own reasons. All of our reasons are *our* reasons and are not subject to logical analysis by others who lack the ability to read our souls. Actions can be judged, words can be judged, motives are much trickier. I will only point out that a world of Tim Mays would have many fewer homicides in it than a world of Bill Clintons and much less oppression of others. Mostly everyone would leave each other alone. The fundamental of politeness. DCF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBNAHifIVO4r4sgSPhAQH8XgP/UoNMQaHlg7NLmoNbsvT6zk4UKQQy2Y00 dI/y4bEl03d7C9zjNT5KpBIXlf9zWUSSMSa+EclFgu685IH6/zZ4eLmlan1yZIww 0zeiJ1LyBDUz3x9qWlrSZw8gWZP18pTodNkRySp8XIlU1xJ/aDuElwBqXAwj19Ju Cxg/pcFow30= =5v+i -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----