Watch what you introduce to your bloodstream....creepy language in that one.
Language can be manipulated - just like viruses and bacteria can be manipulated...intertwined into new, designer pathogens.
Simple language and straightforward logic can be torn down by experts in deceit - what else would you call the art of exploiting fractions of uncertainty? - and formed into obscene parodies where the original intent of the law is completely subverted.
How completely insane is it to legislate a code of conduct in warfare, by the way? Who will be following it? Warfare...is an admission of chaos. It is explosions and body parts and drilled knees and everything else. Instead of rationalizing it and sanitizing it, maybe we should clue in to Smedley from a couple posts back and just give up the whole, rotten racket.
Anyway...In effect, this is the purpose of the law: To ensure that nothing is certain. Everything is open to interpretation. For better or for worse. And if you cant afford a lawyer - to interpret the law in your favour - it's for worse.
The top guys? If they want something to happen, no law will stop them - they will dismantle, disregard, and they will twist the existing laws so as to support their venture.
Of course, this subversion is masterfully executed, polished with what appears to be flawless logic...or not.
It's not difficult to convince yourself of something; it's even easier to let someone else convince you. We let people do it all the time. Taken to an extreme, a few pointed arguments at a sensitive time can turn our morals and conduct upside down.
Is that how frail our character really is?
The real challenge is to incorporate compassion, morality, humility, and a sense of unity into our dealings - economic, political, social. Once that happens, we will realize that the industries of death operate at far too high a price to be sustainable. And we will shut them down.
