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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (96731)	1/25/2005 2:16:30 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793707

When I go to turn that valve on or off I do one of two things: 1) wear gloves, or 2) look around carefully to locate the spider before sticking my bare hand in. I think that's a fine way to deal with the spider. I would probably make the same choice. Well, I suspect that anything I list as an example will prompt you to say "not meaningful", and how can I argue with that?...I see you has having the cart before the horse, and I suspect you see me the same way. Unfortunately, I cannot evaluate that assertion without a sense of what you consider meaningful. So I'll try to infer it from your illustration. 1) The spider is very different from me. 2) I try treating other things morally (realizing full well that my existence does impact a great number of things negatively, as does the existence of most living things). 3) I exercise appropriate caution for the dangers I face, while trying to implement 2). You start by assessing whether the entity in question, a spider, is different from you. What is the point of that? It seems to me that what you are trying to do is assess risk. Difference is not a salient factor in assessing risk. Are ou using difference as a proxy for threat? To assess risk you have to determine whether the entity is a threat. You do that by identifying the entity in a way that's meaningful to the thrat variable. The entity could be very different from you, say a book or a sparrow or a policeman, and be no risk whatsoever. Or the entity could be very much like you, say, a person of the same race or even your identical twin, and be a big risk to you. That's because risk is not a function of difference, let alone a function of racial difference. Sure, some spiders are dangerous. A black widow spider is a risk and a daddy long legs isn't. That's because one has a poisonous bite and the other doesn't. It's what they are. As soon as you identify the variety of spider, you know your risk. Likewise, some people are dangerous. But you can't tell that from their race. You can tell that from the weapons in their hands or their presence uninvited in your house during the night or the snarls on their faces, but you can't tell if from their race. If I got a call from a neighbor that he had spotted someone peering in my window and all I knew about the intruder was his race, could I deduce greater or lesser risk from his presence as a function of race. I don't see how. As for carts and horses, yours are in the appropriate sequence if 1) there are meaningful differences between the races and 2) difference is inherently threatening. I am not buying either of them. I understand that bigotry is rationalized by focusing on differences and perceiving threat in those differences. I submit that that is irrational. It seems to me that anyone who could be so respectful of a black widow spider has a good soul and would not succumb to that. You say that I'm in denial. Well, maybe I am. But the only way to disabuse me of it is to tell me what differences there are that I'm missing/denying.