US officials threatened James Foley's family with criminal charges if they raised ransom money to free him

That it is MY family. You don’t have any?

Ask your parents.

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I have a family, and I love them dearly.

I also have enough sense to realize that killing innocents in order to save them is not a good solution.

I want good things for everyone everywhere, and answering violence with more violence is an awful way to live. It’s not a cycle I want to contribute to, my family would be deeply ashamed of me were I to answer violence against them with more violence towards others (especially innocents).

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What a quaint way of dismissing murder.

You realize that you are advocating a perpetual and expanding cycle of violence don’t you?

How’s that old phrase go?

“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

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It’s not a quaint way of dismissing murder. It is a suggestion that you should consider, because it may provide you with some perspective on the subject.

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So… you are okay with just letting them die?

If yes, then it sort of makes me happy that I am not in your family.

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I would be unhappy about it.

I would make all sorts of efforts to save them, but I draw the line at funding ethnic cleansing, or any other act likely to cause the death of multiple innocents.

Call me a monster I guess.

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Your noble idealism will evaporate the moment you hold your first child in your arms.

Yes, it will.

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But to be clear you are saying it is ok to murder innocent people to save your child right?

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It’s less not-ok than losing your own child.
We’re just wired that way.

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Perhaps, but that is yet to be seen.

I at least endeavor to be noble, where as you are complacent in your intent to murder wantonly for selfish reasons

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To be clear, I’m saying that you will feel it is absolutely essential to do anything to save your child.

To be clear.

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So on the record you would participate in ethnic cleansing to save a single member of your family?

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Where ‘anything’ includes murdering a Yazidi child?

To be clear?

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No. I am a parent.

To be clear.

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Then there is a contradiction in your logic:

ISIL has been actively murdering all the Yazidis they have been coming across. Men, Women, Children, it doesn’t matter.

If they had your child as a hostage, and you had to provide them with material support (e.g. ransom money), that would mean participating in the murder of other people’s children in order to save your own.

You can’t have it both ways.

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Sufficiently close member, yes. Because the balance is a significant personal loss vs some distant images in the TV news and some imperceptibly low difference in conflict statistics. Not happy to make that tradeoff but from my point of view it is a less unhappy outcome than the alternative.

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Why are you arguing about something you have no knowledge of?

I know enough to recognize that genocide in an unacceptable way to save my own kin.

Attacking my character won’t improve the position you are attempting to justify.

You are a despicable human being if you are willing to participate in genocide to save your child.

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It is alarming that you are self aware enough to realize that distance from the problem makes it ok psychologically, but simultaneously not intelligent enough to take that information and apply it in a way that would make the world a less violent place.

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