bmt@we53.UUCP ( B. M. Thomas ) (11/07/84)
So maybe you thought people had CHANGED in all these years?
moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (11/09/84)
>So maybe you thought people had CHANGED in all these years?
Gosh, what a really well-thought-out, concise, point-oriented reply! Sure
showed me! Yep, nothing decides an argument like a single cynical statement
(especially one that isn't signed). Guess that'll put me in my place...
Do I think that people, as an animal, have changed in the last 100 years?
Not one heck of a lot, though we're a little taller, as a rule. However,
what I do think is that, in the last 200 years in America, many (hopefully
most) of us have tried, to varying degrees, to create a civilized atmosphere
for ourselves, our friends and our family. We like to live in such an
environment, and so try to uphold it in our decisions, in our economic
contributions, in our political practices, and most of all, IN OUR BEHAVIOR.
This is what I call being mature.
So when I see people treating the killing of a person by the state (which
means BY US) like a prep rally, I am a little disgusted. Celebrating the
execution of someone is the mark of either a barbarian or a cretin. I think
that one's opinion of the death penalty should not interfere in this --
people I know who support look on it as a neccesary evil, but they are not
exultant in instances when it is carried out. When I see people like this
on the tube, I want to tell my nephew "These people are wrong to act like
this. This is not something people should do."
I do NOT tell him, "Well, Philip, people haven't changed in 200 years!"
As to my naivete, yeah, I am still -- have been all my life. I have aquired
something of a cynical shell over the last few years (cynicism is the mark
of a failed romantic), but I haven't let it get too deep yet. I find that a
touch of romanticism and naivete make the world somewhat pleasanter place to
live in.
"Pfui. More people saying what they believe would be a
great improvement. Because I do I am unfit for common
intercourse" -- Nero Wolfe, "Blood Will Tell"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \
{allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPAbmt@we53.UUCP ( B. M. Thomas ) (11/13/84)
An apology is due, Jeff, and a public one, if my remark was taken as an attack. It was not meant as one. Neither was it really cynical, and I do agree that the referenced behaviour is barbarous and ugly. However, I was really responding in some anger to an idea that today's social engineers have foisted upon our subconscious minds and which appeared to be behind your initial posting. This idea is that we have somehow come beyond all of that, that mankind is now somehow more noble than at that time, simply because we can espouse wonderful ideas of worldwide peace and brotherhood. We think that these ideas are new, that they have liberated us from the barbarism of the past. Not true. Mankind has never been lacking in lofty ideals, only in the personal character to implement them. Our news has somehow stopped appending my .signature, sorry. Here it is. we53!bmt(Brian M. Thomas @ AT&T Technologies, St. Louis, MO)