[extropy-chat] Re: A view of what politics is

[Dirk Bruere]

On 10/17/05, Jack Parkinson <isthatyoujack at icqmail.com> wrote:

and art. Politics is always about groups - don't be cofused because some
> individual receives undue approbation or sanction. The group rewards and
> punishes. But it is fundamental that the individual 'does not take the law
> into their own hands' - Groups rule! Even autocrats and monarchs need
> group
> support. A group is not one and is not two - after that we are talking
> politics...


You are making a political assumption.

On the same question, Brett Paatsch mentioned Lee Harvey Oswald. I have to
> say that I never heard anyone suggest he was a politician before! An
> assassin yes. Crazy? Maybe. Criminal - definitely.
>
> However , I would be willing to concede that if he was acting on behalf of
> a
> group - or was even deluded enough to believe that this was the case, then
> this was a political act.
> BUT, if he WAS acting alone he was just a murderer... (political
> ramifications notwithstanding)
>
>

As for individuals, they can act on behalf of political *ideas*, which are
certainly just as valid in this context as groups.
If LHO was acting because of his Communist beliefs, is the assassination
still not a political act?


Dirk
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