Internment Camps in the Present Day

Submitted by Jay Leavitt (United States), Dec 28, 2004 at 12:42

Subsequent to 9/11, I pondered at length the similarity of the treatment of Japanese-Americans post December 7, 1941 and the shift of public opinion regarding Muslims in the US.

I was reminded of John Stuart Mill's "Utilitarianism," and therein sought guidance in this seeming moral dilemma. Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Kant, et al have spoken eloquently on the promotion of the public good. From "Utilitarianism," I quote:

"There is no difficulty in proving any ethical standard whatever to work ill, if we suppose universal idiocy to be conjoined with it; but on any hypothesis short of that, mankind must by this time have acquired positive beliefs as to the effects of some actions on their happiness; and the beliefs which have thus come down are the rules of morality for the multitude...."

How apt.

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