Force Inclinations

Oh, I most certainly agree here. Money is far, far less valuable than happiness for certain. And yes, there must be many gov't programs that would be able to provide aid in this.

I'm not asking for help in that situation, its been partially rectified already, but the taking of the children would likely be the straw as they say. The kids I beleive are whats keeping her grounded as it is, unfortunately the alternative, is their fathers (yes multiple) and that is likely worse.

In any sorts, what of the other situation, would you condone shooting down a plane full of innocents held captive by a hijacker planning to crash it into some unknown location, likely to be highly populated?

Here's another hypothetical, say you captured a person who planted a bomb in a public place. Regular means of interigation have not worked, is torture the next step?

Just some hypotheticals, my opinions are probably pretty obvious.

Dhagon Krayt

In so far as your plane scenario goes, I would only condone such an action after all other options had been exhausted. From a Utilitarian Philisophical standpoint this would be the best course of action to save as many lives as possible. But again only after all other options had been exhausted. And I would greive.

As far as your next scenario goes, no, torture is not the next step. In our teachings it says Jedi Believe \"In the sanctity of the human person. We oppose the use of torture and cruel or unusual punishment\" Now this does not stop us from using some sort of truth concoction such as sodium pentathol or something of that nature as it is not torture, nor is it cruel.

As far as the plane goes, I agree with after other options are exhausted, but the torture thing I would say it depends. I'm all for the use of \"truth serum\" drugs or whatever, if they get results faster. In this situation, time is of the escense, concidering you don't know where the bomb is, and when its set to go off. If torturing one person, especially the person who put it there, saves all those lives, you bet I'd do it.

I'm sure there are many other instances out there, where a seemingly evil act would still better the whole. I would not condone evil acts for the sake of doing them, then again, I'm not sure I condone good acts for the sake of doing them either. It kind of seems like a slap in the face to me, if you are to go around helping a bunch of people, if they do not ask for help. Its like saying I'm better than you, so I'll help you. If you are asked to help that is different, but then you have to decide if by helping this person, are they going to learn anything and better themselves, or are they going to continue down the same path.

Well, its a 4 day weekend for me, so I'll be back next week on Tuesday. Have a Happy Easter everyone.

Dhagon Krayt

You too my friend and MTFBWY

Where do we draw the line? Do we save lives? Or do we continue to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror? Some of my former associates have done things in different countries that help us to live the lives we do today. Take the whole war on drugs thing; in a perfect world we would fly over Colombia and Afghanistan and napalm the opium fields, right? But why don't we? Because whether you like it or not, or whether you accept it or not, the United States Government gets a cut from all that drug money. Want to know how we are funding the War on Terrorism when the troops are out of money and the spending bill is in limbo? Drug money. Drug money has funded every war since the conflicts with the Indians. So, do we revert to a theory of communism where \"from each according to their means to each according to their needs\"? Or, do we keep on walking around blindfolded and thinking we live in the perfect democracy (or representative republic) where we have the freedom to think and believe we have it good and our representatives listen to us? I choose the latter, and whatever it takes for the good guys to keep the Boogeyman under the bed where he belongs, as long as I don't know about it I can't disagree with it. And as for the plane thing, we already did it. The plane that was meant for the White House or Senate (I already forgot) was brought down by the very passengers that knew it was better to sacrifice a few to save many. MTFBWYA.