I bet Blizzard never saw this coming! Deckard and Griswold are probably rolling over in their graves, unless they're still in some level of hell...

Friday, July 28, 2006

Death-ics

What is it about death that separates the left and the right? Issues like war and the death penalty, for example, are quite divisive. I've come to the early conclusion that the primary, and most general, difference between them is a belief in obejective right and wrong larger than individuals which the left denies and the right defends. Allow me to explain:

War
Why is it that the liberals threw a fit after 9/11, claiming that Bush was at fault for not preventing the attack only to throw another fit when Bush took action to prevent further attacks? Granted they hate Bush no matter what he does, they generally claim that he was wrong in invading Iraq, not because of WMD's but because it involved killing "innocent people".

If the liberals are right that the only legitimate value system is utilitarian relativism and a person's individual rights, especially their physical rights like life, are the only way to determine what is "right" or "wrong" then it would seem that any action robbing even one person of their individual sacred rights would be the highest "wrong". I've already treated the nonsense of utilitarian ethical relativism previously so I won't dwell on it here. If the conservatives are right, however, then there exists a system of ethics that holds authority over all people with "right" and "wrong" being objective principles that must be upheld far above any one individual's desires or "rights". It's not that conservatives don't value life; quite the contrary in fact, just look at their stance on abortion. "Thou shalt not kill" is fundamental, but even a cursory read of one Old Testament narrative shows that killing is very "right" in certain circumstances: namely war and the death penalty.

Applying this to current events like the Isreali-Lebanon conflict, we find the same dichotomy. The right is generally supporting the war and the left is lamenting the loss of "innocent life". Why do conservatives support the war? I recently heard a great line in an old movie about WWII and the bombing of Hiroshima. A man told his wife that he felt horrible about killing but that it would be an ever greater wrong to let the enemies get away with what they're doing. That's exactly it! No sane person, right or left, wants to kill for the sake of killing but there are circumstances when killing is the right thing to do. Is it bad that Lebanese civilians are being hurt and killed? Yes, but it would be worse to let Hezbollah get away with terrorism. Not because of logistics, or money, or national borders, but because it is right to stand up and fight against such an enemy and it is wrong to leave them alone.

This is about ethics. Was it right for America to join the fight against Hitler and his Nazi regime? Yes, it was. Was it right for America to bomb Japan? Yes, it was. Not because America simply had the power, but because the universal standard of right declared us just to destroy such evil in the world. The same applies to Iraq, Hezbollah, and any other evil regime.

The difference, then, between right and left is that the right is willing to stand up and fight for justice, counting the cost but obeying a higher call. The left is unwilling to stand up for justice because of the cost. It's like another line I heard in a movie: "nothing is worth your life". Maybe for a relativist that's true, but I'm proud to claim that there are many things worth "your life" and justice is certainly one of them.

6 Comments:

Blogger Feels like Nine said...

If the liberals/democrats complain that Bush didn't do enough to stop 9/11, perhaps they should be reminded Clinton had a chance to take out Osama but did nothing.

9:47 AM

 
Blogger Number Four said...

I will only add this about your last point, if nothing is worth dying for, then nothing is worth living for, its all meaningless.

1:58 PM

 
Blogger Feels like Nine said...

Hey, #4 is back to blogging!

Good point by the way.

2:25 PM

 
Blogger Seamus said...

Yeah, 4! Awesome point and I'm glad to see you're back!

Notice how the liberals are gone?

2:56 PM

 
Blogger Sarah said...

Want to know what makes me mad? When parents of soldiers who gave their life for our freedom start a protest and blame Bush for the death of their son or daughter. I'm sorry... but I've never known a single person in the military who joined not knowing that there was a possibility that they might have to die for their country. That's usually why they join, because they are so selfless that they are willing to die for me, for someone they have never met, so that I can drive the car that I want to drive, work at a job that I want to do, own a gun, live the life I want to live and best of all, to be able to say whatever I want. Those parents should be proud that despite their selfish example, they managed to raise someone who was willing to give their life for their country. If they want someone to blame, they should blame themselves.

5:14 PM

 
Blogger Number Four said...

LOL, yea daniel told me you were blogging again, and about the liberals, lmao!

Anyway, I also agree totally with SARS. If you join the military there is always a chance you could die, and it is not the presidents fault.

10:13 PM

 

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