1 Happy St.

complicatedshoes:

squashed:

Complicated Shoes accuses me of, “putting your own queasy conscience above national security and the survival of the republic.”

Did you see that one episode where the reavers attack and the one guy has to become the thing he fears and hates the most in order to save his life? It turns out, there are things worse than death. We’ve all go to live for a reason. If you think we stand for something as a country, but are willing to sacrifice that without a fight, you need some serious thinking.

Mr. Shoes adds:

It’s time to grow up and realize we’re up against a lot of people that want us all very dead.  It’s not a game.  It’s real life.

If a kidnapper has your kid and kidnapper’s buddy knows where he is hiding, you don’t give a crap what you have to do to get buddy talking. You just want your kid back.

This is part of the reason why we have an organized and trained police force. If I’m willing to leave a trail of blood to get my kid back, I should not be allowed to make those decisions. For the cinematic lesson, see Harry Osborn in in Spider-Man 3. Or Anakin Skywalker. As Master Yoda says, “Yoda Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

As you say, this isn’t a game. Our decisions matter. These are real people we’re torturing. Of course, the implication that torture is giving us a net benefit does not come from the real world. Regardless, we all get one shot at life. Let’s do it right.

Must I really respond to an argument written by master wordsmith George Lucas?

I can tell you categorically that nothing, and I mean nothing, would stand between me and my kids.  If I had to kill dozens of people to get them back, I would do that.  And I’d do it with a clean conscience. When you see evil, you defeat it.

The intelligence community knew that KSM had information about imminent attacks.  They waterboarded him until he talked and then the attacks against L.A. were stopped.  Are you telling me we should not have done that and risked allowing the attacks to happen? Ask the people in that building if they’re glad the CIA did what they did.

Fighing evil with brute force is not evil.  It’s common sense.  It’s survival.

Are you a pacifist?  Is any preemptive measure ever justified in your mind?  Or must we only wait until we’re struck before striking back?

When Han Solo was frozen in carbonite, did Luke say, “Oh well.  Jabba the Hutt is a bad guy but it would be wrong to use deadly force to get my friend back.  I’d rather be known as the kindler, gentler Jedi”?

No.  Because Luke Skywalker was not a pansy.

You don’t respond to the George Lucas rule with more George Lucas rule. You respond to the George Lucas rule with the Jack Bauer rule, which essentially states that “if anybody threatens your security, you jump on your palm pilot, ask Chloe where to go, and you kill all them motherfuckers.”