Quote:
Originally Posted by Raynt  Suppose someone breaks into your house and you are left with no means of escape and they charge at you with a knife. Is it not acceptable to defend yourself in whatever means is necessary, even if it may cause significant bodily harm or death to the attacker if you see no alternative? |
It really depends on your own values.
If preservation of life is your greatest ideal, you'd preferably choose to let the person get away if you don't see a way to protect your property without harming the intruder. Things can be bought back, life is lost forever. But I think the most common reason for choosing this option is cowardliness.
However, by not accepting the burglary and defending yourself regardless of the consequences you are helping to prevent future burglaries.
In this case you are not only acting in favour of yourself, but also your community. These people deserve to be honored.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raynt In it he argues that any sort of military intervention isn't the answer since it will just cause the conflict to continue to repeat itself through the cycle of revenge and counter- attack. He advises that the answer is a team to go and raise the level of consciousness of the leaders in the region so that the leaders could see that violence wasn't the answer. Yet, even he admits that this solution isn't viable today. |
The problem is not only the leader's consciousness, but also that of their followers. A serious (but not necessarily military) attack from the outside on BOTH countries could possibly bring out a solution. The attack should push them to cooperate in order to survive. Not very likely to happen, though.
My intuition says the conflict in the middle east is too complex to be solved by negotiating leaders. There are probably a lot of other issues and powerstruggles playing - or jumping into existence - in the background (on both sides), that have not even been recognised. In order to come up with an intelligent strategy we will need to find out what these issues are, and how they relate to eachother. The solution should be designed into a process from a psychological point of view. I don't think this conflict is just a matter of sharing property.