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Ok, let's take this a step further Marshall Send a noteboard - 14/11/2009 09:45:50 PM
Suppose I murder someone, am tried, go to jail for 20 years. I am released. According to what you say, it's irrelevant whether I kill someone else now, since I'm already "evil." The number of additional people I kill is meaningless. I would argue that we classify "evil" based on the grief that it would cause. In the scenario I present, there would be an entirely new group of people (friends and family of the victim) grieving. The amount of harm I've caused to society is now double what it originally was.

With this in mind, what's the difference between committing two murders, separated by 20 years, versus killing two people simultaneously? The grief caused in both cases is equivalent, just one is disjoint time-wise from the other. In that respect, I'd say it is most definitely worse killing two people than one.

Note that I'm not referring in any way to killing one person in order to save two. I agree with you that doing so is unjustified (by the way, this is what Rand does, and you are defending him). However, you seem to think that the term "evil" is an all-or-nothing label, and once you are evil, the amount of damage you do to society is irrelevant. Wiping out a city or killing a single person--both evil!
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Rand is NOT evil in tGS, nor does he do any evil - 14/11/2009 12:26:27 AM 1425 Views
That is nonsense... - 14/11/2009 12:47:22 AM 815 Views
Re: That is nonsense... - 14/11/2009 05:30:01 AM 717 Views
So what? - 14/11/2009 09:28:49 AM 770 Views
Re: So what? - 15/11/2009 12:17:54 AM 698 Views
Laughable - 15/11/2009 03:36:36 PM 661 Views
Chasing you with an army is not hostile? - 19/11/2009 12:59:52 AM 569 Views
Sorry... gotta disagree. - 14/11/2009 01:09:30 AM 746 Views
Re: Sorry... gotta disagree. - 14/11/2009 03:49:49 AM 691 Views
Even if it's not thousands of lives. Stalin got it right. - 14/11/2009 05:33:05 AM 570 Views
I think the thousands would disagree - as would the one. *NM* - 25/11/2009 08:19:47 AM 265 Views
Mad, threatening, bad-tempered and cold, but not evil... - 14/11/2009 01:43:12 AM 674 Views
I disagree with prety much everything - 14/11/2009 03:10:12 AM 705 Views
Re: I disagree with prety much everything - 14/11/2009 05:45:14 AM 734 Views
Why in the world is quantity irrelevant? - 14/11/2009 06:01:13 AM 516 Views
A murderer is evil. What difference does it make how many? That's just degrees. There's no OK number - 14/11/2009 07:22:47 AM 623 Views
Ok, let's take this a step further - 14/11/2009 09:45:50 PM 573 Views
Re: Ok, let's take this a step further - 15/11/2009 12:23:05 AM 652 Views
Tried AGAIN? Serial killing indicates a tendancy. - 25/11/2009 08:23:39 AM 562 Views
Re: I disagree with prety much everything - 14/11/2009 04:35:27 PM 709 Views
I think you're confusing "evil" with "risky" - 15/11/2009 12:48:21 AM 729 Views
Re: I disagree with prety much everything - 15/11/2009 07:04:16 AM 602 Views
What Rand did that was evil. - 14/11/2009 04:06:17 AM 652 Views
I don't see Arad Doman - 14/11/2009 04:57:20 AM 571 Views
Take up the Dragon's burden... - 14/11/2009 07:56:46 AM 763 Views
A wonderful commentary on 'nation building' too, I suppose - 14/11/2009 08:22:46 AM 752 Views
Priorities. - 14/11/2009 07:52:06 AM 726 Views
Perhaps - 14/11/2009 09:43:51 PM 758 Views
Re: Perhaps - 24/11/2009 08:28:56 PM 672 Views
I don't think he was evil - 14/11/2009 08:10:56 AM 695 Views

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