Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to re: um, Mary Anne

Intent vs. volume
Mary Anne — (archived)

When thousands die, it's a bigger deal.

Intent does count. In that sense, the Islamists are much worse.

When thousands die, the horrible effect tends to trump the intent (the victims don't care that it wasn't personal), and the impact on the society as a whole is devastating. To do that because we don't like their leader is not a clear enough cause and effect equivalence for me. Do we ignore that?

Example: The insurgents blowing up American Army convoys with roadside bombs are targeting combatants and are not as bad as the Al Qaeda bombers blowing up markets and mosques crowded with Iraqi civilians. What do you think is worse?

Neither of them is peachy, but when somebody goes to another country where there's a war on, in uniform, he must have certain expectations. The people who blow up regular folks just trying to do the marketting are, of course, worse. Yet I never recall reading that Bowser said they were better, or even admirable. Which is, of course, the point of this particular part of the conversation.

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