Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Innocents And Law Enforcement

Rate this topic


woschei

Recommended Posts

It is the purpose of law enforcement to protect innocent people and to punish the guilty ones. But how about innocent people in an airplane that is hijacked by terrorists? The government should do its best to protect those people but as we have seen on 9/11 it is possible that there is only one alternative open to the government: shooting down the airplane. Do you agree?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The priorities are as follows:

1. Protecting the lives of thousands of innocents (such as the people in a skyscraper).

2. Protecting the lives of hundreds of innocents (such as the people in a plane).

3. Punishing criminals.

As a result, a plane with hundreds of innocents in it should not be shot down for the mere purpose of punishing a couple of criminals who are also in the plane. But a plane with hundreds of innocents in it should be shot down if that's the only way you can avoid the deaths of thousands of innocents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with you that punishing criminals is not the first priority of law enforcement and that the goverment should never harm or kill innocents for the purpose of bringing criminals to justice. But I think that it is necessary to find a proper degree of certainty regarding the situation of the hijacked plane. We can never be absolutely sure that the plane will be used as a weapon before it is too late. But sometimes it is necessary to act even when we are not quite sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We can never be absolutely sure that

But apparently we can be absolutely sure that we can't be absolute sure of other things...?

I think in some cases, experts can be sure that a plane has been hijacked to become a weapon of mass destruction.

It is so obvious that it ought to be shot down, that I can't quite imagine why this premise needs defense. If such a plane is not shot down, the innocent passengers will be killed by the terrorists in a few minutes. If it's not shot down, then many more people will also be killed by the terrorists. If we have a policy of not shooting hijacked planes down, then terrorists will hijack more and do it again.

Notwithstanding the feel-good pseudo-security that harrasses innocent passengers every day in every airport.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But I think that it is necessary to find a proper degree of certainty regarding the situation of the hijacked plane. We can never be absolutely sure that the plane will be used as a weapon before it is too late. But sometimes it is necessary to act even when we are not quite sure.

I agree that such a decision ought not to be made lightly. The mere fact that a plane has been hijacked is not a good reason to shoot it down.

If hijackers understand that a protocol is in place whereby plane that pose a credible and imminent risk will be shot down, they will have to abandon the flying bomb approach altogether.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This question is a good example of why the issue of the inititiation of force is fundamental in ethical issues of a social/political nature.

To quote from an article I wrote about the immorality of pacifism:

"Say that an airplane full of passengers has been hijacked and is headed at full speed toward a major city. You know with certainty that the hijackers are going to take it into the side of a building — and you have the means to shoot down the plane before it reaches the city, and crash it into an empty field. Do you do so, even though it will mean the death of everyone on board? Won't doing so make you a mass murderer?

"Of course not: the murderers are the hijackers; they are the initiators of force who, while not directly killing the passengers, have forced them into a situation where they are sure to be killed — by you, the moral person with the means of thwarting the hijackers' scheme for mass destruction."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good point by Kevin. It is important to stress that the government is not attacking innocents but only the criminals. To Capitalism forever: It is not a question of numbers but of principles. Yours words sound utilitaristic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...