NON PD: thought re: terrorism

[Camilla Flintermann <flintec@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The loving and reassuring messages from our friends around the world
are so much appreciated by all of us.
May I share this quotation which I received from a friend on my
Quaker Women's list?:

    Terrorists often claim to be fighting wars,
    and to be doing no more than is necessary
    in war. This is nonsense. War is certainly
    the natural expression of collective resentment;
    but it occurs between organised groups and
    is fought openly, against a collective enemy.
    It is possible to fight a war with undiminished
    respect for the rights of the enemy individual.
    Indeed, that is the duty of every soldier.
    But the terrorist must disregard this duty
    and disobey the law of war. His feelings
    towards the individual are abolished by his
    loathing of the group, and it is this -rather
    than his cowardice, cruelty, or intemperate
    hate- that constitutes his true moral corruption.

               - Roger Scruton (b. 1944), British
                 philosopher, author.
                 _Waging War on the Individual,_
                 Untimely Tracts, St. Martin's (1987).


--


       Camilla Flintermann                                      Oxford,OH

         <flintec@xxxxxxxxxx>

         on the web at

         And visit the CARE webring at

                             "In all beginnings, endings lie enfolded,
                                    implicit and invisible as
roots."

                                        from: "Leaving the
Garden"--CHF


----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn