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.
Which is why you would be tried and punished again. 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.
Whatever. What is the point? In each case, it is a person who has killed twice, whether he did them close together or far apart. 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!
Yes, they are. Of course one is worse, but does it matter? If someone is going to kill you or destroy your hometown with you, either way you do the same thing to stop him. Either way, you put the guy to death if he does it. For all practical purposes, his end is the same. And the single killer should not be let off or have his guilt ameliorated by comparison to the other.Feelings and sadness are pretty much irrelevant.
Cannoli
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
Rand is NOT evil in tGS, nor does he do any evil
- 14/11/2009 12:26:27 AM
1348 Views
That is nonsense...
- 14/11/2009 12:47:22 AM
737 Views
Re: That is nonsense...
- 14/11/2009 05:30:01 AM
621 Views
So what?
- 14/11/2009 09:28:49 AM
685 Views
Sorry... gotta disagree.
- 14/11/2009 01:09:30 AM
660 Views
Re: Sorry... gotta disagree.
- 14/11/2009 03:49:49 AM
610 Views
I disagree with prety much everything
- 14/11/2009 03:10:12 AM
589 Views
Wouldn't the Chaos Graendal was causing in Arad Doman be greater than the chaos Rand caused?
- 14/11/2009 04:11:48 AM
740 Views
nothing Graendal did almost caused the Pattern to collapse *NM*
- 14/11/2009 05:59:21 AM
427 Views
The chaos the Forsaken are causing is causing the world to collapse and the DO to get stronger
- 14/11/2009 07:48:05 AM
760 Views
Re: I disagree with prety much everything
- 14/11/2009 05:45:14 AM
656 Views
Why in the world is quantity irrelevant?
- 14/11/2009 06:01:13 AM
444 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
524 Views
Ok, let's take this a step further
- 14/11/2009 09:45:50 PM
478 Views
Re: Ok, let's take this a step further
- 15/11/2009 12:23:05 AM
580 Views
Rand has not yet crossed the moral event horizon of no return,
- 14/11/2009 03:27:22 AM
571 Views
Then he already passed the horizon by your reckoning. He DID choose to do those things.
- 14/11/2009 07:45:46 AM
661 Views
Then maybe we just have different standards.
- 14/11/2009 11:56:02 AM
631 Views
Why do you keep bringing up genocide? Rand was not doing that.
- 15/11/2009 01:02:23 AM
645 Views
To me, the Rules of War is nothing but a contract between parties.
- 15/11/2009 08:39:55 PM
445 Views
It's too late in the game to worry about followers. He has no further political agenda *NM*
- 19/11/2009 01:01:04 AM
200 Views
What Rand did that was evil.
- 14/11/2009 04:06:17 AM
573 Views
I don't see Arad Doman
- 14/11/2009 04:57:20 AM
478 Views