7th September 2005, 10:42 PM
You sure did come up with a lot of straw men there...
Allow me to explain. I am not arguing what you did was wrong. I am not arguing you should beat yourself up or feel guilt. I am not arguing that the mafia and the military are equivilant. I also never once stated any of those things.
What I stated is that one must accept responsibility for one's own actions. You can decide for yourself if what you did was right, but you aren't a "hand", you are the rest of the human too. I myself do not find you guilty. The analogy with the mafia was in comparing your argument, not the military, to the argument made by those in the mafia for what they do, that they can't be held responsible because it is merely a job and they were following orders.
Now, there are a billion points of seperation between the two, but the fact of the matter is, even if you were ordered, you weren't being mind controlled, so you are responsible. The main logical reason for not arresting a soldier who's orders were otherwise against the law is simply that it would be very illogical to give an order and then punish for obeying it. It's all about the logic of the system itself more than some way to avoid the soldier feeling "guilt" or anything. The only logical way for a system like that to actually punish one for obeying an order is if that order contradicted some higher order, I imagine, like the Geneva conventions.
Anyway, I'm not saying you should feel guilt, nor am I suggesting you feel pride, but don't pretend you were just some tool they were using. Seperate yourself emotionally, from what you have stated that seems to be for the best. Bury the logic if you must, but don't outright argue against it. It's more or less futile.
Allow me to explain. I am not arguing what you did was wrong. I am not arguing you should beat yourself up or feel guilt. I am not arguing that the mafia and the military are equivilant. I also never once stated any of those things.
What I stated is that one must accept responsibility for one's own actions. You can decide for yourself if what you did was right, but you aren't a "hand", you are the rest of the human too. I myself do not find you guilty. The analogy with the mafia was in comparing your argument, not the military, to the argument made by those in the mafia for what they do, that they can't be held responsible because it is merely a job and they were following orders.
Now, there are a billion points of seperation between the two, but the fact of the matter is, even if you were ordered, you weren't being mind controlled, so you are responsible. The main logical reason for not arresting a soldier who's orders were otherwise against the law is simply that it would be very illogical to give an order and then punish for obeying it. It's all about the logic of the system itself more than some way to avoid the soldier feeling "guilt" or anything. The only logical way for a system like that to actually punish one for obeying an order is if that order contradicted some higher order, I imagine, like the Geneva conventions.
Anyway, I'm not saying you should feel guilt, nor am I suggesting you feel pride, but don't pretend you were just some tool they were using. Seperate yourself emotionally, from what you have stated that seems to be for the best. Bury the logic if you must, but don't outright argue against it. It's more or less futile.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)