Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 19:19:57 -0500
Subject: Re: whither -AT- list


At 02:03 PM 4/17/2001 +0000, john bechtel wrote:

>Damn good point there Thomas. I think a legit arguement can be made 
>against a 'military' POV; if humans are going to cooperate we are going to 
>need to get past the idea of violent resolution of our problems. The 
>militarys prime function is shoot first, not exactly a 'do no harm' policy.


I've seen this claim many times.   If you somehow make this leap of 
"military=leaders=coercion" then I think you miss the point of 
self-defense.   Violence in the name of self-defense is not anti-social in 
any way I can construe.   Of course this begs the question of what is 
legitimate self-defense?   Can self-defense be pre-emptive?   This is the 
thicket the rabbit must run.


carp