[WikiEN-l] The Justification Issue

Tue Feb 10 14:52:42 UTC 2004

Based even on a the short interchange among me, Delirium, Viajero, who I
think I know pretty well by now -- plus OneVoice :-) ... 

I would say that the key issue is whether a given act is "justified" or
should be "condemned". Some people use the word "racism" to mean
unjustifiable race discrimination (as when an evil majority exploits an
innocent minority) -- as opposed to justifiable race discrimination (as
when an exploited innocent minority gets extra goodies like preference
in being hired for a job or admitted to a college (see affirmative
action). Likewise, some people used the word "terrorism" to mean
unjustifiable violence against civilians -- as opposed to justifiable
violence against a "legitimate military target". 

For the racism issue, it hinges on whether the discrimination is
justified. For terrorism, it hinges on whether the violence is
justified. 

We Wikipedians need to step back far enough from these articles and
discussions to be able to identify and distinguish our own opinions and
judgments from those of others. In particular, we'll have to avoid
assuming that any one of us is in touch with the Universal Standard of
Judgment. (Okay, everyone but me, heh, heh :-) 

No, even I have to do this: it's the promise we all make when we click
that "Save page" button!

Uncle Ed 

Original rant at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Violence_in_the_Israeli-Palestinian_co
nflict_2004#The_Justification_Issue

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