kkklutch  +  107220 Fri, 10 Jun 05 07:56 AM ya. so are you basically saying that it is immoral that a price is put on their heads? well if so, i think he did the right thing- the reason he 'bought' them was to return them. this is a perfect example of how the ends justify the means. today, in society, we're looking for the result of things. how someone achieved that goal does not mean anything to us, i believe. kkklutch Joined on Mon, May 16 2005 toronto New Member 14 to beautify life is to take away its character of complexity

	hemant r  +  107443 Fri, 10 Jun 05 10:20 PM I partially agree with Kkklutch. When he says that the girls were bought by the reporter to be freed, he seems right. But, when he says - " today, in society, we're looking for the result of things. how someone achieved that goal does not mean anything to us, i believe. " - I don't quite agree with him. The reason being that if all of us start concentrating only on the end result, there would be a lot of unfair deeds involved to achieve the desired/profitable results. So, according to me not only the end results matter but the manner in which these results have been achieved also matters a lot. Hence, what the journalist did was extremely justified. He never harmed anyone and was always looking to help the girls. hemant r Joined on Tue, Jun 7 2005 Delhi, India New Member 03 HemanT

	dan_brit_abroad  +  109208 Wed, 15 Jun 05 06:15 PM I have never agreed with the ends justifying the means either. If you ask most people in the world "What would you most want?", many, many people would say "The end of all terrorism." Imagine what would have to be done to achieve this in the near future! It would most certainly involve the death of many innocent victims, just to be certain all terrorists were killed. I once heard a quote in a not so special film, but it stayed with me. "The ends is bullsh*t...the means is what you live with!" Can anyone name the film? dan_brit_abroad Joined on Sun, Jun 5 2005 New Member 37

	Josh2005  +  110414 Sat, 18 Jun 05 11:21 PM I guess the question has more implications than we might think of. On the one hand, it may relieve the journalist's moral unease to buy freedom for these two girls; on the other hand, an act of human kindliness like this actually makes no change at all in a structurally oppressing and dehumanizing society. Intervene or not? That's always the question. If we consider some moral standards universal, intervention on the basis of these notions (such as freedom of and respect for life) is then justified. However, morality is sometimes a function of culture, which is determined by specific social and historical conditions of each localities. Where our morality ends and their morality starts is always problematic, and usually politics will draw the line. This is a factor usually invisible at first. On a larger scale, why does a country have to develop a culture that treats human beings as tradable commodities? Who is to blame, after all? Josh2005 Joined on Fri, Jun 17 2005 New Member 04

	robbie  +  113763 Thu, 30 Jun 05 12:33 AM No different from spending $300 to help someone out some other way. Should have kept it to himself though. robbie Joined on Sat, Jun 25 2005 New Member 15 ..whatever..