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Old 09-14-2012, 12:13 AM   #166
driveway
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Originally Posted by HPLovecraft View Post
Thanks, and I will also add that, again, I have no issue at all with the call for more condemnation of these acts from moderate Muslims and prominent Islamic figures. ...
After thinking it through and talking with my roommate over waffles about it this morning, I've realized that I was wrong.

What my feeling was was that all members of a community bear some responsibility for the actions of all members of that community - and I was defining community as any group a person chooses to identify with.

I did not think of this as divisive, but rather inclusive, as carried to its furthest extent it makes all people, at least peripherally, responsible for the actions of all people. I realized, however, that it leads straight to generalization which IS divisive. (You are an X so you need to act in Y manner in this situation, regardless of what else you might be).

I also realized that what I was doing was making altruism a responsibility. I was demanding all people try to act altruistically in all situations and I realized this was not a reasonable thing to demand.

I wish people acted as altruistically as reasonably possible in all situations, but it is not logical to require them to do so.
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