The Littleton monsters simply raised that commonplace to a new level. It is the poisonous kernel at the heart of such modern trends as moral and cultural relativism, and of current events. The irrationality of ultimate moral ends is, for example, the core of NATO's new steel humanitarianism. They are unimpressed by unanimous military testimony that bombing Serbs cannot help Kosovars because helping Kosovars is not their end. They are only mildly interested in other consequences of their actions.
Irrational ends go hand in hand with violent aggression.
Rational men renounce the use of aggressive force because their ultimate moral ends are values, and force cannot produce values. Michael Miller is the peerless publisher of Quackgrass Press and has been absent from these pages far too long. All rights reserved.