Comments on: Smackdown #2

By: The Happy Rampager

The Happy Rampager — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 12:59:00 +0000

It's hilarious how deluded people like John B can be. I mean, this is extreme even by his standards. Euan didn't destroy anything, all he did was demonstrate that he doesn't understand why societies have laws, probably because laws are to him what tribal customs are to a Third World villager. The sort of thing that might have been useful and relevant once upon a time, but is useful no longer, yet is still a binding influence upon the villagers because no-one remembers why such a law/tribal custom came about, what the point of it was supposed to be, which means that they would be unable to assess whether the law/tribal custom needs revision.

Really. Check this out:-

It IS in fact to have a common set of rules by which all citizens (or subjects, or whatever) abide. This is what makes society.

You could ask him what he thinks the purpose of such laws are (I did) and receive no answer, because he doesn't know, and being asked why makes him uncomfortable over his ignorance. That the law was being questioned was the sole reason he stuck his oar in.

Think about that last sentence, 'This is what makes society'. Society is there. Society has laws. Why does society have laws? Euan's understanding stops at that point. Which leads him to make the supremely moronic argument that laws are not the codification of moral standards. In other words, to him, theft is not criminalized because it is wrong, it is criminalized because the lawmakers thought it should be.

By: Euan Gray

Euan Gray — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 14:35:00 +0000

Estimable? Moi?

EG

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 11:40:00 +0000

Surprised to see the normally-barking ‘llamas’ making a sensible point about halfway down, mind…

And it’s also interesting to see that, beyond all the tedious bluster, more than one of them agree that the appeal court’s manslaughter finding was justified.

By: Mat

Mat — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 11:38:00 +0000

While he’s doing us all a favor by keeping the loony toffs off the streets, I hope Euan will realise it’s pointless to have that kind of discussion with those tatcherites, and that it’s best to let them drool and rant about their weapons.

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 11:31:00 +0000

A couple of idiots remark on the ‘subject’ status of Britons under the British crown. It says on my passport I’m a citizen. Perhaps they’ve seen an old one or something. Or perhaps they haven’t bothered to check their facts before making a tiresome rhetorical point, who knows.