From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
IG says, << I dont believe that people should disobey or
break a law, no matter how repugnant it is to the individual >>
This, IG, is exactly why some people take you to task and
we get tangled in these Nuremberg comparisons. The Law
might be a wonderful thing (I have to say that I suppose) but
laws are enacted by politicians, most of whom are at
best fallible and many of whom are mad, malicious, dangerous
and not on the side of liberty. I think it was E.M.Forster
who said that if it came to betraying his country or betraying
his friends, he hoped he would have the courage not to betray
his friends, and this expresses the way I feel about
laws, patriotism, and personal morality. Ultimately we are
all morally-aware individuals who don't merely have a right,
but a duty, to question each and every law. Our political
system has given us mildly despotic government, alternating
between two parties who pretend to have profound philosophical
differences but haven't (like noisy clowns battling with
foam-rubber clubs, who retire off-stage to share a drink
and a joke) and are equally collectivist, authoritarian,
high-tax high-spend, arrogant social engineers.
Big government, by people who believe that politicians are
more important than the citizens and the principles of
liberty, inevitably leads to cynicism and a breakdown of
respect for the law. This is a good thing: if it didn't
happen, we'd all be as guilty as the politicians who enact
corrupt, foolish, tyrannical laws. And most people have a
well developed sense of right and wrong, so they can
distinguish between breaking the laws regarding 30mph
speed limits (bet you've done that, IG) and those regarding
murder. So don't be so ingenuous and po-faced about not
breaking the law. You seem like a decent bloke, but I
suspect you don't recognise the extent to which shooters
(who are not altogether single-minded gun nuts) view the
malign anti-gun attitudes of police organisations as symptoms
of wider changes: from being crime stoppers and catchers of
criminals (come back, PC49...) the police appear now as a
repressive arm of the State, engaged in people control.
I don't enjoy feeling this way. After decades of taking the
police for granted, it's upsetting and worrying to find
myself viewing them with distrust, and doing my best to keep
all contact with them to a minimum. How do you see yourself?
As a criminal catcher? A social worker? Or a shepherd,
prodding stray sheep back into line with his crook?
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
