Comments | rtmiss: BEADS! also, JUMPRINGS! and philosophy of course

rtmiss

BEADS! also, JUMPRINGS! and philosophy of course

May 16, 2009 14:06

Is anybody (in the christchurch area) interested in jumping on board with a joint order to http://www.firemountaingems.com ? Have several people on board already and enoughed planned ordering to get us into the third discount bracket. Pretty good prices and a lot of stuff you just don't ( Read more... )

Comments 7

adrexia May 16 2009, 02:34:21 UTC

Is war ever justifiable?
Personally, I don't think so. It can be justifiable to step in on behalf of a group that can't protect themselves, but there are usually other ways that don't result in the same huge loss of life. I don't know why war has a better rep than assassination. Probably because it's mainly unimportant people who die in wars, right?

What good can come out of it?
Population control?

rtmiss May 16 2009, 02:54:31 UTC

Assasination has a terrible rep and it's hardly fair really, ever time another war breaks I always think "a couple of well placed assasins could solve all of this". It has this sort of "bad cricket" rep that is understandable but sometimes a lot short sighted. If it had a less bad rep I suppose people would be popping politicians off right left and centre. There's a joke in there somewhere I think...

Population control is always the first thing I think of. Kind of sad really.

Diplomacy is war continued by other means, or is that the other way around? marsden_online May 16 2009, 03:48:30 UTC

People with something to gain will find (and have found, for every war that ever was) a way to justify it to themselves, their armies, their people. History accepts some of these justifications, so I guess the answer is yes ( ... )

Re: Diplomacy is war continued by other means, or is that the other way around? adrexia May 16 2009, 12:24:13 UTC

Yep. Huge leaps and bounds in the world of medicine came from, for example, Josef Mengele's horrible human experimentation during World War Two.

Re: Diplomacy is war continued by other means, or is that the other way around? marsden_online May 16 2009, 21:43:56 UTC

Tsk Naomi, poor play. The only thing the war provided was a captive population and an administration willing to look the other way, it seems apparent Mengele's motivation/obsession already existed ( ... )

Re: Diplomacy is war continued by other means, or is that the other way around? adrexia May 17 2009, 00:22:21 UTC

It's an ethical conflict for many people. Mengele did horrible things and was a horrible excuse for a human being. His "research" killed many people (after making their lives hell), but has saved many more. You can't change the past and it seems fitting that some good come out of human suffering... But it also seems... not right that something so horrible could be responsible for that much good.

Not all the developments came on the back of such torture, but thousands of people died in other ways. Maybe it's worth it just to have our lives improved. Maybe it's not. I guess it depends how close you are to the action. I imagine making the world a better place would be little comfort to some, and everything to others. Is it worth going to war to get this stuff or is it just compensation?

rtmiss May 16 2009, 03:54:19 UTC

I am proud to report that my daughter brought up most of these fine points in a school debate about war last week. She may be only 12 but she has an excellent head on her shoulders.

Starting a war is seldom a 'good look' and certainly history is more often than not written by the winners. I don't have to believe everything that history tells me though :) I take several pinches of salt every day.