Posted by claire 7 on June 29, 2000, at 22:03:33
In reply to Re: Questions about Kosinski, posted by dj on June 29, 2000, at 18:29:47
What an amazingly interesting thread!! Issues I've wrestled with all my adult (18yrs on) life.
When friends object to spiking trees, I say, yeah, but we need extremes to make the rest of us environmentalists look reasonable, and to create a perceived need on the part of others to "compromise"; and we need extremes to call attention to the problem, a task that unfortunately usually requires violence or the threat of violence. I personally can't squash a spider, can't kill the snakes that haunt my potting shed, couldn't even in good conscience disrupt philosophy classes with anti-war demonstrations during Vietnam. But we need the people who can do these things. ( Jesus was one.)
Ted, I think, was too far gone to be taken seriously, or to be taken as anything other than a wacko, which is a tragedy. And I must admit I can't accept the idea of blowing off a relatively innocent person's hand. (Hitler, O.K. A few others I can think of, O.K. But a small cog in the apparatus, no.)
Note that this topic has, in my opinion, quite a bit of relevance to recent events on this board.
poster:claire 7
thread:37688
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000619/msgs/38773.html