HelenM

We're not doing the same thing.

You're judging people based on characteristics of other individuals in a group which have no proven relationship to the criteria for joining that group. Which is no more rational than judging all vegetarians as mean because you've met one that is. If you can prove the relationship between your inferred group characteristic and membership of the group - for example, if you could establish that meat contains nutrients without which people can't help being mean, fair enough. But you haven't so your judgment remains an irrational one.

I'm judging people based on the individual commitment they made to join a group. Which is as rational as judging all members of a vegetarian group to be non-meat eaters. In other words, completely rational.

That's the difference.

Helen

Nowhere357

That was an excellent answer to the little joke.

The value of skepricism is self evident.

Sol

Here's a new article with some counterpoint: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...0ruelas30.html

Apocolips

Hola!

I had an acquantience (sic), a nice guy, who is doing 10 years in prison in Mississippi for a mistake. He was a former police officer.

He went to a birthday party of a friend one night, drove home drunk and had a wreck with a woman and drove her off the road. He panicked and ran off. The woman is crippled for life. So now, my friend is doing 10 years (he'll be free, or free and off parole in 2010) for committing a stupid act. Is my friend a criminal? No he is not.

I hit someone with a car about 10 years ago and never got caught. I was very drunk and went out and scored some crack cocaine. It was very late and I hit the guy. I saw nothing but his butt and legs. I popped him going at a low speed, maybe 15 miles per hour. My windshield was destroyed. I high tailed it out of there, and as I was getting home, another person was following me and tried to block my path. Fortunately, I got away, and the "hero" was too dumb to get my license plate number. I never heard about the guy I hit either. Running might have been "wrong" but the damage had been done and I did not want to go to prison.

My friend above was sane I was an insane crackhead. I'm now clean and living overseas with a beautiful wife with no problems. My friend gets to live in a cement box for the next ten years, his career gone, paying restitution for the rest of his life to a stranger. Oh well. Better him than I.

SENOR

Sol

I'm reviving this thread to add that I had no idea why I started this topic in the first place. Some random interest and a request for some input from others on their views perhaps.

Little did I know that I would receive a phone call from my 18 year old daugther (who is away at a summer training program at a university some 2,000 miles from home) to inform me that she had been struck in a cross walk by a hit and run driver. She most fortunately received only very minor injuries.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in this discussion with your many interesting and varied view points on the topic. It has advanced my knowledge in many directions and given me much to ponder.

Rusting Car Bumper

or cops or judges or DAs...

DC