> At 09:43 AM 11/2/01 -0500, ravi wrote:
>
>> my guess is people have preconceived notions of what they want to hear,
>> when they ask these questions, but should we (whatever "we" means in
>> this context) be in the business of palliative therapy?
>
> why don't you answer my question: what do you say to people, the 85% of
> the people you probably live, work, and play with?
>
hey i did answer your question. i say the same old stuff i have been saying all along (plus i might throw in the nietzsche line about justice is the name that revenge uses to feign a good conscience, or whatever). this time around i preface it by making sure that it is clear to the person i am talking to that i am saddened by the loss of lives. then i say, the best way to avoid loss of lives is for us to participate in building a better world. then i do my spiel on non- -violence. i listen to their arguments calling for "justice" and "targetted action" or their rants about foreigners and immigrants. i try to see if these arguments make sense to me - so far they have not. i then point out the inadequacies in these arguments. and so on and so forth.
> where do you people
> live who never encounter them and why on earth do you want to live like
> that?
i live in new jersey. we dont talk to each other around here. its considered rude. ;-)
--ravi
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- man is said to be a rational animal. i do not know why he has not been defined as an affective or feeling animal. more often i have seen a cat reason than laugh or weep. perhaps it weeps or laughs inwardly - but then perhaps, also inwardly, the crab resolves equations of the 2nd degree. -- alasdair macintyre.