Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 21:15:48 -0400
From: Aaron Micheau <amaarchy-AT-compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: Rough Justice


Message text written by danceswithcarp
>

This had nothing to do with disagreements.  This had to do with
Aaron's.....I shall not mock.....claim that he thought it would be better
to negotiate with a serial rapist than to resort to violence.  I don't
know how things are there on the Islands, but here in the e$tado$ unito$
rape is seen as a horrific act of violence and an almost unmatchable
imposition of degradation and terror on the victim.  Aaron did not answer
my question about the victims' role in these negotiations, but I am not
suprised to hear a man be presumptious enough to say it's okay to be
tender with another man who violently assaults womyn.
<

Gee, thanks, Carp, for not mocking me.  You're so kind.

How'd i get dragged into this thread? i haven't been following, but should
set the record straight. Carp apparently thinks i'm a pacifist because i
don't support blowing shit up for no good reason. what i actually said was
the following, when asked the question 'would i negotiate with a rapist' in
the context of the NATO debate:

>>i would negotiate with a rapist, if i thought a resolution might prevent
him, or induce him, to stop commiting rapes.   Particulary if my ability to
force him to stop committing rapes was ineffective, and as a result of my
attempts to use force, he stepped up his commission of rapes.   One thing
is clear, negotiation is virtually impossible while bombs are dropping, and
NATO has refused all calls for a cease-fire in order to try.<<  

Anyone who can extrapolate from this that i think "it's okay to be tender
with another man who violently assaults women" should be congratulated for
having an imagination even more active than my own. 

In a theoretical, ideal community, if thugs were causing strife and
wouldn't stop or go away, killing them would be a reasonable response for
the community.  To Carp's "simple solution" sure," just shoot him".  Fine. 


But since we all know that NATO isn't going to "just shoot" Milosevic, the
simple solution doesn't fit the analogy.  It's a moot point.    NATO is
"just shooting" a lot of other people - random Serbians and a few Albanians
to even it out.  If this is the effect of what Carp calls 'resorting to
violence', then yes, i'd prefer negotiation, thank you.

The rapist analogy was a poor and overly simplistic one in the first place.

-apm