I am curious about something....

[jahcs]

Ashock:

I think that it would be hypocritical to shout that "I would be different". The reality is that most of us probably would not. However, while that is the case, it still does not change reality and that reality is that these people are very very dangerous. Also, again while it somewhat mitigates their guilt in the eyes of some, it further condemns the regimes that they grow up under.

For a view of how folks can handle situations in very different ways: Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. "By any means neccesary" vs. "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

Both men were working for a much needed change, just from different angles. I feel both men and their views were neccesary to the civil rights movement. Some folks will only respect the need to change when you give 'em a good smack upside the head. Also, if everyone that wanted change was militant about it I doubt that there would have been a positive outcome. Sort of like the difference between having a bus boycott and firebombing all the busses.

Gekko:

Do you honestly think those stupid kids strapping bombs to themselves in the middle east ever had a chance? Do they deserve to be shot because they've been pumped so full of hate since they were born that they can't see anything else?

They may not deserve to be shot but, if it's a choice between them blowing themselves up in an open-air market and shooting them if the opportunity presents itself, I will pull the trigger myself. (And odds are good that next year I will be in that situation.) I would much rather go after the leaders of the groups that enable this type of behavior and shut them down but their minions need to be taken care of too. And by "taken care of" I don't neccesarily mean liquidating them.