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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (138260)	6/29/2004 9:05:45 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

is there a moral difference between building a bridge, knowing that the work is dangerous and some workers are certain to die despite precautions, and deliberating working thousands to death to build the Great Wall of China? So you think there is a difference between the Chinese marching their people to death to build the great wall and the Japanese who did the same with American POWs to build a bridge? There are two issues here: (a) the nature of the relationship between the people and the leaders (b) the "intent". In terms of the nature of the relationship, there is no difference between forcing workers to build a bridge or build a wall. The bottom line being that in the eyes of empire builders, men are not human beings but means to an end. From this point of view, it does not really matter what the ends are, if people are just used as tools. Now on the issue of intent...in general people feel they should be judged based on their intent. I think intent matters a lot less than what its proponents believe. Does it really matter if I accidentally shoot your child and kill him when I really meant to just scare him? Sure there is some difference. But how big is that difference to the parent who lost a child? Put yourself in the shoes of a mother who lost her family in the US precision bombed weapons. Did she send you an invitation or ask for the US soldiers to be there? How much do you think she cares that she lost everyone she loved "unintentionally"? Likewise do the same from the perspective of the Americans who lose a son in Iraq. Here they are losing a child and millions upon millions of dollars to be in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction. So what was there that is worth their son's life? Intent is a lot less important than you think.