X-Message-Number: 19638 Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 09:04:12 -0700 Subject: Pirates and Piety From: Peter Merel <> Yvan Bozzonetti writes, > How do you know that? At a time, caribean pirates was the richest > organization in the world. What remains from that today? Actually the Carribean pirates were far from the richest organization in the world. Their society had three periods of great success: - The insurgency against the Spanish under Drake - The rise of Port Royal as a Buccaneer capitol following Morgan's sack of Panama - The "Golden Age" a generation later epitomized by the exploits of Roberts and Blackbeard The first was not self-organized, but controlled by Spain's European rivals. The second was a self-propoagating rebellion against European laws and tarriffs, but it was never a match for any contemporaneous European state. Indeed it was wiped out by a single tsunami in 1692. The third was much smaller, really more a rolling mutiny than an organization. Pirates such as Roberts would play threatening music and brandish frightening weapons to force their way onto a ship. They seldom had to do battle because, for most sailors, life on a state-controlled vessel really wasn't worth fighting for. The pirates would take money and goods and offer membership to all who'd join them. Those that joined could only go back if they concealed their identities - not tood difficult in those days, and something many did. In fact Roberts himself was impressed "on the account" this way. But when the powers set privateers against the Golden Age crews, they quickly vanished as an organization. It was another two generations before the Americas really started to rival European organizations in wealth - but the American revolutionaries were seldom pirates. Jeff Dee writes [as refutations], > 1. God is the source of morality: Euthyphro's Dilemma > 2. God is all knowing, all powerful, and all loving: The Problem of Evil Actually the first isn't much of a dilemma. The question is whether god defines what is good, or whether she's bound by some external definition of goodness. If the former, then god isn't necessarily good, and if the latter then god isn't entirely the boss. Most theists refute with a third alternative, that goodness is an innate characteristic of their deity, and thereby escape. The second is also no problem. Try http://clublet.com/c/c/why?GodLovesTheSpeciesNotTheIndividual . People can find arguments in support of almost anything. Let me qualify this by declaring that, for myself, I prefer an open mind to belief in or against any proposition. Peter Merel. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19638