Re: [privacy] Privacy is dead; Just ask the president

[Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu]

On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:12:22 CDT, Brian Loe said:

> I personally can't say what it was a war for - and not being the
> President or one of his close advisers/confidants, I'll probably never
> know (nor will anyone else who will most assuredly chime in here) and
> won't argue for or against anyone's uninformed opinions.

If you, as a citizen, don't *fully* understand why we're in a war, and think
that only the President and his advisers actually know, there's been a major
failure of our governmental system.

>                                                            However, I
> don't mind it because I believe that if we pull it off (which becomes
> more and more unlikely given people's attitudes - not because of
> anything actually happening on the ground there) the ends way outweigh
> the means.

If you don't know why we're there, you don't *know* what the "ends" are,
and whether they in fact outweigh the means.  Is the "end" worth $448 billion,
several thousand US servicemen, and several hundred thousand civilians?  There's
no way to tell, if you don't know why we're there.  Did we spend all that money
and get all those people killed to keep the price of oil down? Or for some higher
purpose?  And what higher purpose justifies the carnage?

Unless you know *why* we're there, saying the ends justify the means is specious.
And even if you *do* know why, it's still rather shaky on moral grounds.

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