It's mind-boggleing to think that some people actually defend the Taliban, for example, saying they have a right to their view - their religion.
Okay. Okay. Now you'll come back and say, "Yes! They have a right to their beliefs." And you'll be right. But that has nothing to do with whether they SHOULD believe what they do and whether they should or shouldn't suffer consequences FOR that belief. They are obviously suffering enormous consequences for that error in thinking.
While I'll agree that truth is PERCEIVED differently by the observer, the truth itself is there and unchanged, unwavering. For example, in THIS country, we (presumably) agreed, as stated in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, that human life has value and that we have an inherant right to it. A 'proof' that this concept reflects reality is the fact that humans will fight like hell to stay alive. It's a very self-evident truth when seen in this light. The fact that the Taliban doesn't agree changes nothing. Life wants to live. Their actions do not alter or negate this basic fact.
We might even say that truth is equivalent to "fact" or "reality". Reality is the way it is, not the way we'd like it to be. Unfortunately, these days we seem to see a lot of people 'wishing' reality was the way they'd like it to be rather than the way it is.
While the truth of gravity, for example, and its rules as expressed by Newton are accurate within the framework of the physical sciences, perhaps there were others before him who perceived it a bit differently; consequently their view (their equations describing it) were not. It would be rather pointless to detract from Newton's view no matter how convinced one was that their view was more 'acceptable' or 'reasonable'. Gravity pulls on things at the given rate of 32ft/sec/sec - no exceptions on Earth and the concept is proven correct beyond doubt to the astute observer.
On another issue, an argument has been made at least a couple times recently, that Katrina has a right under the 1st Amendment to say anything she likes here. Well, we know that that's not quite true. You cannot shout "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, for instance. And just because she's may be techncically within the law, there are others unwritten "laws" that have to do with human conduct and ethics. I find many of her posts downright unethical, mean-spirited, misled, inaccurate, and equivalent to yelling "Fire!". I often wonder how otherwise intelligent people can defend her position.
Personally, I have a problem with fence-sitting; long-term, it doesn't work. You just end up in the quagmire of a false, convenient peace. Take a reasonably justifed position and stick to it. The wise man with adjust his view when new light is shed. Only a fool will stick to his misbeliefs.
Katrina mentioned that she thinks Mike's lawyers are monitoring this site. She apparently is taking that into consideration now -- unlike previously -- exactly for the reason I stated above: You CANNOT say anything you like without consequences! Well, all I can say is that it's about damn time she was moderated and a little bit of REALITY sets into this forum.
On a lighter note, Wizard, have you ever considered punctuation in your often-long posts here? Yours, particularly, are the most difficult to read and I find myself skipping over much of what you said rather than reading every word. Since many of the threads here have to do with clearly communicating and avoidance of being misunderstood, it would seem a necessity to break your posts up into smaller, bite-sized chunks to achieve this. Just a thought
