Quote:
Originally Posted by starseed
Law and nature are completely different concepts to people of different cultures.
Alan Watts:
Similarly they view the word law as if it were something rigid and unnatural. Something that cannot always be applied equally to all things, and people will always look for ways around them. Brant was saying that the Mohawk way was fair and suited always to the individual and the wrongdoing committed, and always aimed at healing the damage done.
I have started to think that the reason one out of every 100 Americans are imprisoned, is because of how unfair their society seems to be. Selling cannabis to other adults seems to yield a punishment far more harsh than crimes that actually deserve punishment. The first nation's method of healing seems to stop cycles of violence before they start, and prevent hatred from getting too far. Peace above revenge.
As for the UN, the Americans do a lot of the obstruction, but in the cases of Rwanda and Srebrenica, the UN utterly failed. That is why the Americans go over the UN to engage whom they see as enemies of global security. I am not for the second Iraq invasion, but I am certainly for the American intervention in places like Kosovo. I believe human rights trump all. In this case, this is one case of someone tried and convicted rather than a group being driven away in buses never to be seen again. But still, it is just an ugly grey area.
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Interesting point, but somewhat unfair given the global context. Regardless of everything else, the United States is still the beacon of a good liberal regime.