(October 25, 2016 at 6:50 pm)abaris Wrote:(October 25, 2016 at 6:46 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: I see. So, if you believed in the tenets of National Socialism (and I'm not for a moment suggesting that you do) and orders came down that you would be required to help man the ovens at Dachau, no one has the right to criticize either the orders or to tell you that following them is wrong?
Boru
I hope some introspection will reveal how utterly stupid this comparison is. There's quite a gap between - I wouldn't use Dachau if I want to go all out polemic anyway - and some religious rule that may or may not be of any concern of the particular followers. Polls show that most catholics don't give much of a shit anyway over what comes from the Vatican.
But that aside. The above comparison really strikes a nerve with me.
It is an admittedly extreme comparison, yes, but a valid one. The notion expressed elsewhere in this thread (that members of an organization must not be criticized for following edicts of that organization, nor should people criticize the edicts of any group of which they are not a member) is so severely loopy as to merit an extreme example.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
