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<blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 1925737" data-attributes="member: 7240">Why do we oppose genocide today? We oppose it because we believe cultural and biological diversity have intrinsic value; such a belief is modern and fairly unique -- certainly not universal, anyway. EDIT: For most medievals, the idea of leaving a non-Christian culture intact with its religious beliefs would be not only stupid but immoral. Why wouldn't we use whatever amount of tough love it took to make sure that these people joined us in heaven? By these standards, if we had a culture that believed in nurture over nature, the last people you would want to leave alive would be creatures who were actively parenting -- they would be preventing you from abducting their kids and raising them yourself to ensure that they took on good Christian values. I know some people would like to imagine that our ancestors who ran Indian residential schools were evil; but most were not -- they were just wrong. I don't think it's a value one can rely on fantasy societies having. And even we have limits when it comes to our belief in the intrinsic value of difference -- none of us have a problem with genocide against AIDS, smallpox, syphillis, or the like. &quot;Extinction&quot; is never an actual issue anyway in warfare. And how would a fighter on the side of humanity have any idea whether the particular goblins he was killing were the &quot;last intact community of Misty Mountain Blue Goblins&quot; anyway? Finally, I'm assuming, from your argument, that you are allowing the idea of genocide against creatures with &quot;always&quot; in their descriptor to go ahead.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="fusangite, post: 1925737, member: 7240"] Why do we oppose genocide today? We oppose it because we believe cultural and biological diversity have intrinsic value; such a belief is modern and fairly unique -- certainly not universal, anyway. EDIT: For most medievals, the idea of leaving a non-Christian culture intact with its religious beliefs would be not only stupid but immoral. Why wouldn't we use whatever amount of tough love it took to make sure that these people joined us in heaven? By these standards, if we had a culture that believed in nurture over nature, the last people you would want to leave alive would be creatures who were actively parenting -- they would be preventing you from abducting their kids and raising them yourself to ensure that they took on good Christian values. I know some people would like to imagine that our ancestors who ran Indian residential schools were evil; but most were not -- they were just wrong. I don't think it's a value one can rely on fantasy societies having. And even we have limits when it comes to our belief in the intrinsic value of difference -- none of us have a problem with genocide against AIDS, smallpox, syphillis, or the like. "Extinction" is never an actual issue anyway in warfare. And how would a fighter on the side of humanity have any idea whether the particular goblins he was killing were the "last intact community of Misty Mountain Blue Goblins" anyway? Finally, I'm assuming, from your argument, that you are allowing the idea of genocide against creatures with "always" in their descriptor to go ahead. [/QUOTE]

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