Everything we do is defined by our morality/ethics.
I just drank some coffee, took a shower, ate breakfast. Is conventional morality/ethics involved?
>vigilantism in self-defense makes sense, is defensible in the absence of >enforced laws.
Vigilantism is NOT self-defense
Drop "vigilante" from the conversation. It seems to have a very heavy baggage for you, and by your Wild West definition, "immoral".
(btw, when the USA decided that the world governing body, UN, was not effective, the USA, as a vigilante, took the "law" into its own hands, chose to invade Iraq, in "self defense" against an "immediate threat" as the "only option". As a result, the vast majority of the countries of the world, including USA's traditional allies, therefore consider the USA to be an outlaw/vigilante country, and the primary threat to world peace and order.)
and is prosecuted by the law.
You're really stuck in a limited, conventional frame of reference THAT THE LAW EXISTS. Vigilantism is fully justified is responding to attacks in the absence of any laws and law enforcement organizations. Even the law, when it exists, agrees with that. It's called self-defense.
And "no laws/no law enforcement" is exactly what we have with spam on Internet. Can you appeal to the local police, FBI, CIA, to stop spammers from attacking your MX? Can the FBI/CIA do anything about Russian/Chinese/wherever spam/cracker gangs setting up websites promoted by spam that steals cc/bank numbers and passwords?
Revenge murderers are proesecuted and put away all of the time.
Self-defense killers aren't prosecuted. We, at least I, are talking about self-defense.
Check out the history of the American West for a colorful depiction of the unlawfullness of vigilantism.
.... which often arose, in self-defense, because the there was no effective local law. In the 19th century, huge chunks of the US West were not annexed into states, let alone have federal/state/municipal laws and law enforcers. And just like in Iraq today, the US federal govt simply could not assure the security of the West. Vigilantism was sometimes all people had in the way of "laws".
Len
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