Assassination - Re: What is the moral course

[Luke Benjamin Weiger]

To suggest that conterfactuals are difficult to assess is true enough,
although the question of "what if" (which is hardly a political science
abstraction) is a necessary one if we are to learn from past mistakes.  To
refer to an 18 year-old undergraduate as an "academic" is bizarre.

-- Luke

On Fri, 14 Sep 2001, Dennis wrote:


> > Charismatic leaders and the historical context that brings them to power
> > are inexorably interwoven.  However, to suggest that the course of events
> > is not altered by the actions of said leaders is quite naive.  You happen
> > to be in good company, though.  Tolstoy thought likewise.
> >
> > -- Luke
>
> Well, your formulation seems mystical to me: the "what if" school of poli
> sci. "If" Pol Pot had been offed in the US bombing from 1970 -75 that killed
> some 600,000 Cambodians and ripped the country wide open, would the KR have
> ceased to exist? Would the nativist anger against US bombing been of little
> import? Somehow I doubt it, but, again, who really knows? I don't, and you,
> my academic friend don't either.
>
> DP
>