People are wrong!!! (Bonus: the Thorn Family Tree (revised))

[inverarity]

I used to be incredibly argumentative. (I know, big shock, right?) I spent more time than I want to think about arguing on message boards, getting into flamewars with people who were just so unspeakably jaw-droppingly blood-boilingly unbearably fucking stupid that surely the entire universe would collapse into a singularity if I did not disabuse of them of their utter and complete wrongbadness.



I just skimmed a certain HP message board for the first time in months, and.... yeah, I'm glad I've outgrown that. (Okay, I'll still get into it sometimes with people, but for the most part, I've learned to walk away from poo-flinging chimps, or better yet, not engage at all.)

This, btw, is why I don't post a lot about my politics here. 'Cause I can easily go off on a tear about my godless heathen liberal politics, but then it becomes unfun when people who share a common love of fandom are suddenly ripping into each other over abortion or God or whether Obama wants to make you gay marry a Muslim anchor baby. (Yes, I totally ripped that last line off from John Scalzi, who I want to be when I grow up.)

So, now and then I feel like doing the "blogging" thing where I actually talk about, you know, real stuff, and then I think better of it, because that way lies self-immolation.

Anyway, here is a revised Thorn Family Tree (with some noteworthy additions) as a reward for suffering through the above rambling. Note that it is still subject to future revisions...

Comments

Rhemus

[(Anonymous)]

But where, precisely, did you get the figure of 200 dead?

I guessed it as a reasonable number for a train crash, on April 18th in Fiction Alley review of AQATDR chap 14. Likewise, June 18th, FA review of chap 29, I said "Confederation murders one child every 7 years. Abraham murders dozens of people each month. Both sides are evil, but Abe is eviller." And you replied "Hmm, is evil measured by body count?"

The text does not specify the numbers of Abe's victims, all we CAN do is guess. You questioned that my moral system is too simplistic, but you never denied that my guess at the body count is reasonable from the information provided. Fair enough, there might be some special spoiler information that we wont know until the time is right.

For now, I will guess that the body count is 200ish from the train crash and 100ish from his other raids, until I have further information.

"Hmm, is evil measured by body count?"
It is a good start, but there are exceptions. Geneva Convention defines that killing enemy soldiers is morally neutral whereas killing civilians and POWs is evil. Abe has killed 300 civilians and 3 Aurors = enemy soldiers.

Judge Dredd has a high body count, but in the context of the Story, those perps deserved to die and killing them was Righteous. Usually, Dredd stories are well written and I agree that those perps deserved to die.

"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand was the "Twilight" of its day. There was a scene with a train crash and Rand lists the sins of each and every passenger to assert that they deserved death. She would say that wouldn't she?

Re: Rhemus

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

Dude, you crack me up.