As I said above, that I also often think, why not kill those bastards, when I hear about a terrible crime in my country ( child abuse or something ) or see the crimes of war criminals ( in Kosovo, etc. ). But at least till now I always reconsidered and remembered my principles of non-violence ( excluding self-defense, or defense of others ).
Confronted with such a situation I hope that I would keep my reason and stick with thos principles. But hoping is the only thing I can do, because its hard to just "talk" about it, without being in the situation ( gladly ). But I'll probably at least consider it for a while.
But back to my former argument - the natural law. The human rights were defined natural in the age of enlightenment, John Lock wrote about it and there was also a French philosopher. Later there was Kant who wrote about moral withe the 'Category Imperative' ( would be too long to explain that ) and if I remember right it was also said in the Declaration of Independece, that these are rights which cannot be taken by government or anybody else, and therefore as the English King tried to take them, the American people had the duty to throw off his government and create an own state. Many wars were fought over this issue, the Civil War of 1861 ( against slavery ), and if I am not wrong WWII, either. And there were the Wars in Jugoslavia.
So at least some people think it is a worthy idea, but what I do not understand is that a country which fights tyranny in the name of human rights and justice, can in the same way kill people, who commited crime. Even war Criminals are no longer executed, today. Perhaps one should reconsider in US and other countries with capital punishment.
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"I am a great one for rushing in where angels fear to tread." - Cpt. Kirk, Star Trek VI
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[This message has been edited by Evan van Eyk (edited 09-08-2001).]