From: "Mycroft"

Don't take things so personally, life is too short to worry what strangers
think.

Reminds me of Rasimus and his favorite John Stuart Mill quote, which he wields
like a purse to flail away at various more or less ill-chosen targets.
It's obvious he doesn't know the context of the quote, or that it is part of a
very well-known essay that political philosophers and students of political
philosophy are very familiar with, as it deals with the problems victory in war
may create.
Mill's essay was prompted by the US provoking Britain during the early days of
the US Civil War, leading to the real possibility of Britain declaring war on
the US. During the course of the essay Mill looks at Britain's situation as
the leading power of the day. Should it suffer US provocation without
retaliation, go to war and possibly be defeated or suffer an otherwise
unsatisfactory solution? Or win and--what? Mill looks at the huge problems a
victory over the US, with all the advantages to the slave-holding Confederacy
that would bring, would create for Britain.
The essay is famous because it draws attention to the fact that even a
victorious war can cause vast negative consequences, and those consequences
must be carefully thought out before embarking on war. Sometimes, Mill
suggests, it is better to avoid war because the consequences not of defeat, but
victory, can be hugely detrimental to your fundamental goals as a nation.
Sometimes it may even be better to use "rough men" you don't approve of
fighting for their own aims to facilitate your own rather than go to war
yourself.
Considering events in Iraq and what may develop in coming years, Mill's essay
has been on the front burner of those who are serious about these matters.
Rasimus is, of course, unaware of all of this and reveals that fact, as well as
his general unfamiliarity with Mill, every time he trots out his out-of-context
quote.
But that's Usenet. At first you think it's a great way to enjoy discussions
and debates with interesting people. But soon enough you discover only a few
people are worth taking seriously and that most posters, should you meet them
in real life, you would cross the street to avoid.
Nonetheless, it holds a fascination, like looking at a traffic accident. Who
are these people, like the moron who thinks that Gar Alperovitz writing about
the Hiroshima bombing is straying outside his area of expertise (that gave me a
belly laugh), or the moron waving his potted John Stuart Mill quote (another
belly laugh). They are a daily goon show and saturday night live combined.
Tune in to usenet when you want a good laugh but don't take it seriously.
Although, once in a while you do meet a sane, knowledgeable person who has
stumbled by accident into the lunatic asylum. but don't expect that.


Chris Mark