Originally posted by nine-eyed-eel
reply to post by fluffy
What I am saying (now that I think about it) is that, more than likely, the people on that list have not done anything much to you in particular...
And that if you correctly identified the main persons who were or are causing problems in your life, the persons who you could act upon in a doable
practical way which would result in the greatest real day-to-day benefit in your life & in you becoming a more functional and powerful person...that
list of persons that you (thus) ought to be striving to effect, probably, does not overlap with the list of 50 war criminals (unless that evil Mary
Matalin is always stealing your parking space)...

Wow. You have completely missed the purpose of this thread.
Your attempt to discredit me has turned into a laughable "the capturing of these people won't benefit me so why am I even mentioning them??"

What a weak, weak attempt to justify your posts as being relevant to this topic.
You have demonstrated your viewpoint, and that is that you are an Ethical Egoist. If you are unaware of what this is, it's a theory of morality that
is defined as having no duties to others but only to oneself, and that each person ought to pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively. This is
the morality of selfishness, and I do not agree with you based on these reasons:
a) Consider these wicked actions, taken from various newspaper stories: Parents fed a baby acid so they could fake a lawsuit, claiming the baby's
formula was tainted. A 73-year-old man kept his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her, against her will. A
60-year-old man shot his letter carrier seven times because he was $90k in debt and thought that being in federal prison would be better than being
homeless.
Suppose that someone could actually benefit by doing such things. As an Ethical Egoist, you would have to approve of this.
b) Ethical Egoism is a moral theory that advocates that each of us divide the world into two categories of people - ourselves and everyone else - and
that we regard the interests of those in the first group as more important than the interests of those in the second group. But each of us can ask,
What is the difference between me and everyone else that justifies placing myself in this special category? Am I more intelligent? Are my
accomplishments greater? Do I enjoy life more? Are my needs or abilities different from the needs or abilities of others?
In short, what makes me
so special? Failing an answer, it turns out that Ethical Egoism is an arbitrary doctrine, in the same way that racism is arbitrary. Both doctrines
violate the Principle of Equal Treatment.
Thus, nine-eyed-eel, you should stop being so naïve and realize that we should care about the interests of other people because their needs and
desires are comparable to our own. Consider that you are an innocent person being maliciously tortured as a result of one of the people on the list
(and don't try and deny this because it is documented that they had considerable power in aiding this practice). Why should we care about them? We
care about ourselves, of course (this is something you can relate to

..but now, to expand your mind) - if we were being tortured like this, we
would do almost anything to get out of this position and to make sure it did not happen again, while also wanting retribution for those responsible.
But what is the difference between us and them (and remember, they're
innocent)? Does torture affect them any less? Are they less deserving
than we are? If we can find no relevant difference between us and them, then we must admit that, if our needs should be met, then so should theirs.
So, If you wanted a philosophical debate, then now you have one.
Your ethical egoist viewpoint fails, though.