Are criminals that lack empathy for their victims and that use violence conservatives?

by Edwin Rutsch (64 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 155 comments) on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:56:21 PM

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Edwin,

Progressives advocate all manner of violence by the state. They just don't call it that. It's taxation, regulation, law enforcement.

Not that I'm defending conservatives, but pointing that finger at them is hypocritical. 

by Darren Wolfe (15 articles, 401 quicklinks, 141 diaries, 1031 comments [84 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 at 10:09:04 PM

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Darren

When conservatives state that they use their values as the basis for their policies, doesn't that open them up for legitimate discussion and questioning?  

Am I wrong in saying that  Conservative Values have failed?

Are you calling them successful?

what approach would you suggest in discussing the values they say are the basis of all their policies?  and how do you grow and learn from your mistakes if you don't question?

by Edwin Rutsch (64 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 155 comments) on Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 at 12:32:48 AM

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What do you feel the underlying values of thuggery and the lynch mob are?

by Edwin Rutsch (64 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 155 comments) on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:57:23 PM

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Isn't thuggery the negation of values?

Ayn Rand explained values well:

It is only an ultimate goal, an end in itself, that makes the existence of values possible. Metaphysically, life is the only phenomenon that is an end in itself: a value gained and kept by a constant process of action. Epistemologically, the concept of “value” is genetically dependent upon and derived from the antecedent concept of “life.” To speak of “value” as apart from “life” is worse than a contradiction in terms. “It is only the concept of ‘Life’ that makes the concept of ‘Value’ possible.”

In answer to those philosophers who claim that no relation can be established between ultimate ends or values and the facts of reality, let me stress that the fact that living entities exist and function necessitates the existence of values and of an ultimate value which for any given living entity is its own life. Thus the validation of value judgments is to be achieved by reference to the facts of reality. The fact that a living entity is, determines what it ought to do. So much for the issue of the relation between “is” and “ought.”

Now in what manner does a human being discover the concept of “value”? By what means does he first become aware of the issue of “good or evil” in its simplest form? By means of the physical sensations of pleasure or pain. Just as sensations are the first step of the development of a human consciousness in the realm of cognition, so they are its first step in the realm of evaluation.

The capacity to experience pleasure or pain is innate in a man’s body; it is part of his nature, part of the kind of entity he is. He has no choice about it, and he has no choice about the standard that determines what will make him experience the physical sensation of pleasure or of pain. What is that standard? His life.

 

by Darren Wolfe (15 articles, 401 quicklinks, 141 diaries, 1031 comments [84 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 at 10:14:48 PM

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Bit difficult to follow her thinking at this time of night, but;

 - Values to me are not about good and evil - that's morality and not what I'm interested in. 

 - values to me are felt body experiences,  violence is a value, love, joy, etc.
here is a list of about 4,000 of them
http://www.diversitas.org/db/x.php?dbcode=va&sbmt=1&go=b&ltr=a

by Edwin Rutsch (64 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 155 comments) on Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 at 12:18:00 AM

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Where do you presently see conservative violence and brutality manifesting itself?

by Edwin Rutsch (64 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 155 comments) on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:58:10 PM

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