see below...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org
> [mailto:lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org]On
> Behalf Of Carrol Cox
> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 10:54 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Ends/Means Re: [lbo-talk] What History Will Remember
>
>
>
>
> Chip Berlet wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > The ends do not justify the means.
> >
> > -Chip
> >
>
> A point Hannah Arendt makes impressed me. If a question is posed in
> terms of ends & means, ends tautologically justify the means.
> One has to
> escape the ends/means 'problematic' rather than make the
> hopeless claim
> that ends don't justify means. If I need groceries, the end rather
> tautologically justifies using energy, muscle power and gasoline, to
> obtain those groceries.
>
> Carrol
OK. But it is still not OK to get groceries by killing the store owner AND then dancing around the body celebrating while eating the cupcakes.
Could we get back to the main point? There is an essential moral issue about celebrating the death of an enemy rather than seeing it as a sad necessity. And even this is distinct from the issue of how any of us justify the use of force.
I do not see any moral justification for using force and invading Iraq. I also see no moral justification for celebrating the death of anyone in this conflict, including Iraqi civilians and soldiers, "Alliance" invaders, journalists, and relief workers.
-Chip