On Nov 3, 2009, at 1:37 PM, Constance Warner wrote:
Well, actually, that's NOT what Tom said. He said that, by the standard that ONLY the person who actually fires the gun is guilty, Pol Pot isn't guilty, because he had a hired corps of murderers to do his killing for him. Tom's main point was that any participant along the chain of evil events shares the guilt; so BOTH Pol Pol AND his cruel assassins are evil.
Thank you Constance. I think they misunderstand on purpose.
Anyway, that's why a lot of us find it problematic when corporations and politicians embrace courses of actions that, in the end, result in really bad outcomes for a lot of people. For example, there are pretty substantial stats that 3,000 people die from lack of insurance every three months--that's four 9/11's per year. What does this say about the efforts of the insurance industry and certain politicians to scuttle insurance reform bills in Congress? They aren't equivalent to Osama Bin Laudin, but are they entirely innocent?
Though to be fair, I must cite something wise and tragic that the President said recently. He said that a sad thing about his job is that there are no good decisions, only less-bad decisions. He said that when easy and good decisions need to be made those issues do not get to his desk. Only the no-win problems that can't be resolved get to him. I think it is great to have someone so insightful making those decisions. He struggles to do the best he can. And Cheney chides him for not quickly and thoughtlessly commanding the deaths of thousands.
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