May 27, 2005

Opinion:

Means and ends

    By Jack Grant

Recently, there have been many arguments presented in weblogs where the ends are being used to justify any means. While this argument is used most frequently by those on the right-wing to justify the Iraq War, it is used qith equal frequency by those on the left-wing to justify some of their actions.

I find these arguments repugnant.

How can you claim to be moral if you attained your moral end by immoral means?

How can you claim to be fair if you attained your fair end by unfair means?

How can you claim to be honest if you attained your honest end by dishonest means?

For a nation such as the United States that claims to believe in liberty and democracy, using the ends to justify means that are questionable is hypocritical at best, for it is the process itself that is important.

In other words, the means ARE the end.

The victory at any and all costs mentality that is now the prevailing view is damaging us more than we realize, and I can only hope that we leave this path before the damage is irreparable.

Posted by Jack Grant at 13:38 on 27 May 2005
Comments

The regression has been constant.

From "Cheaters never win" down to "All's fair in love and war" to "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". We have devolved into a "Two for me, none for you" society that no longer embraces the virtues of community, honesty or fairness.


Posted by: Redoubt at May 27, 2005 02:15 PM



























































































































































































































































































































































This is an individual entry
if you want the main page
click below:

email me at:

Random Fate - latest posts

We don't handle randomness well.
   -Dr. Lucy Jones


Trying to hold the center in not so quiet desperation while the left and the right do their damnest to tear everything apart.

What Others Say
An American transplanted to France for the moment, Jack is sometimes conservative, sometimes liberal, and almost always right.
   -Pennywit

Jack has an impressive knowledge of history, politics, and Keanu Reeves. When it comes to pirates, Jack is waaay sexier than that pansy Dread Pirate Roberts. Oh, wait--I'm thinking of Jack Sparrow...
   -Jennifer (Jennifer's History and Stuff)

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
   -William Butler Yeats, January 1919


Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.
   -Dandemis

Wahabism Delenda Est
Wahabism must be destroyed.
-John Donovan, 12 May 2004