• switchboard_pete@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    1 month ago

    it’s called a thought experiment

    do i think anybody is realistically going to kidnap me and plumb my kidneys into a world famous violinist? no. but i can still use that hypothetical to make a point. do i think anybody is likely to run into a barn at 0.9c while holding a long ladder? no, but i can still use that to learn something.

    based on your response, i presume you agree that a group can do bad things, or even be on the whole bad by a very wide margin, but still do something good worthy of praise?

    • almar_quigley@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      Yeah but being bad and doing a good thing from time to time doesn’t make you good. Your thought experiment doesn’t provide any value because no one is saying everything the bad groups do is always and forever bad. It’s more like the severity of badness outweighs any good they are doing when it comes to the perception of them.

      I’m sure Hitler gave his friends very nice and thoughtful presents. At the same time he was ordering a genocide. Are those presents then bad? Not on the surface. Is he redeemable because of that? No.

      • switchboard_pete@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        Yeah but being bad and doing a good thing from time to time doesn’t make you good.

        sure, and i’m not saying that the hypothetical would make isis good

        i’m saying that it would make fantasy isis worthy of praise for this specific hypothetical achievement

      • AlexanderTheDead@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        1 month ago

        Idek the historical context or anything that’s going on in this situation right now, but your inability to see nuance and your insistent strawman is telling and exhausting.