11-11-2018, 08:35 PM
(11-11-2018, 01:56 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(11-11-2018, 02:38 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:(11-11-2018, 01:43 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: And I would attempt to do this while minimizing demonization. I would not paint someone advocating either freedom or the prevention of harm with a harsh brush. It is possible to recognize noble intent of what other extremists are trying to advocate.
The line between positive rights and negative rights is thin, of course.
Demonization is one way of doing harm. You are increasing the chance that some nut will do murder. One can make one's point without demonizing if one wanted to, but it is oh so human to paint someone else as other.
This is key, not only to preserve lives, but if we are to learn to get better without resorting to violence. Violence has always been a last resort. In the new age, in cultures that have accented a better alternative to violence, it seems proper to advocate using them.
Some people are demons.
When someone demonizes a truly horrible person like Saddam Hussein, one simply exposes how bad he is. Whole groups? That is the first step toward genocide. Thus the Armenian genocide and later similar horrors.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.