Standing up for your beleifs

[Divinus Arma]

The age-old 'us military people' elitist mentality? I do respect what you guys do, believe me, but don't belittle the rest for not being in the military.

I did not belittle you. My statement was meant to put the service members on a pedestal. You are not less. People who serve are simply more.

And so is a little black lady who believed she had a right to sit in the fornt of the bus. Or did all of you miss that point? I am not going to list every example, so I only list a few.

Where did I take it out of context? You gave an example of somebody trying to kill my family, simply based on a "belief" (which is exactly the topic of this discussion) - and not based on an actual physical threat to himself or his family.
I say that people like AQ are an excellent example where the blind willingness to kill and die for a belief leads to (Nazi Germany that you mentioned in a previous example is another excellent example).

As I said, address the totality of my argument, which is (And try to read all the sentences in this paragraph):

Your beliefs are in conflict with the beliefs of others, so at what point do you stand up for your beliefs? You believe that you have a right to live free from fear and to pursue peaceful individual goals that better your life. There are those that believe it is there right to deprive you of all of this and to make you their slaves. Are your beliefs worth standing up for?

Pretty simple point, if you ask me. Don't feed me your "oh, well if they didn't believe that, then I wouldn't have to stand up for my beliefs" garbage. Your point is moot. My argument remains. So which is it?

Divinus Arma do you really belief that the people here, who are talking about standing up for your beliefs. Would not defend their homes and and families if necessary?

Sure. Plenty of people stand by while their rights are taken away. Same is true for defense of the family. Some would cower in fear for themselves first- plain and simple.

To defend your mate and offsprings is an instinct rather then belief.
beliefs are more about values then survival.

I disagree. It is an inclination, yes. Instinct? I don't know and neither do you unless you have empirical evidence to prove that Humans have such an "instinct". But I won't argue this point, because I will never win and neither will you. I will argue that defense of one's mate is not instinctive at all. Define "mate" somebody you know? Another person? A study was once done where researchers asked children: "If your dog was drowning and so was a stranger, who would you save?" The Children almost always said their dog. Thus proves it is learned behavior, not instinctual.

So, you might defend your immediate family. What about your neighborhood? What about your community? If you were in Iraq, these people in your community would be your tribe; a greatly extended family. Would you defend your "tribe"? At what point do you abstain from your neighbor's defense.


I argue this: You and I are no better than one another or our neiughbor. I argue that your right to liberty is equal to my own, and so to with our neighbor. And so to with all humanity.