I Treat All My Enemies Equally

[Blanc <blancw@cnw.com>]

There have been so many posts on which I could make remarks, and I haven't
enough time to prepare a really good treatment on the subject.   

The title of the subject line is from something LD once said to me as a
joke to rile me, something like, "I'm all for  Democracy - I treat all my
enemies equally." (he probably stole that line from someone).

Anyway, I was thinking about those who have expressed a lack of concern for
the unfortunate mixture of the guilty & innocent in a close encounter with
a destructive device.   I was thinking that people who  aren't careful
about such differences make of themselves an enemy to all, because who can
tell what they're supporting and whose lives they really value, since
anyone at all could become their victim.

In times of declared (or undeclared) wars, when it is governments which
conduct the battles, one of the things which make wars hell is that anyone
& everyone is potentially in harms way; everyone has to run for their
lives, you never from who/where you might get hit, whether from enemy or
from friendly fire.  There is so much confusion, propaganda, and lies about
who is in the right, who is in the wrong, whose fault it was/is and who are
the real heroes, that all of those in the middle seem like ping-pong balls
bouncing from side to side.  Nevertheless, whichever side they think they
are on or even if they don't give a flip, everyone has to to run, hide,
take cover.   Only when all supplies and manpower have been exhausted, does
the war end; in the meantime both sides have made many smoldering enemies,
which later some opportunists use as reason to attempt to sway the
remaining survivors into further alliances against the latest "enemy of the
people".    In truth, it becomes a difficult task to determine who is the
un-fairest of them all.   The fact of the matter is that those in the
middle must find a way to protect themselves from whatever weapon or
vehicle of destruction comes around, whatever its source.

Likewise, anyone who creates an atmosphere of uncertainty, where it makes
no difference whether one is a friend or a foe of any particular values or
ideals - one could end up dead regardless, just from being in the wrong
place at the wrong time - is making of themselves an enemy to all.  

Like that stolen phrase, I myself would have to "treat all my enemies
equally"; that is, anyone who would put me or anyone I valued, in danger.  

So, for instance, if Whitfield Diffie and PhilZ were walking into a Federal
building in OK City, and I saw some cypherpunk not too far away getting
ready to blow it up, well, I guess I'd have to kill him.   (Dirty Harry
saying:  "feel lucky today, cpunk?"). 


    ..
Blanc