[MMMMMM]

Yes, Andy, you have expressed this view before.

Where I disagree is when the other wrongs are much greater or more systemic. If it were just one-for-one I would not disagree with you at all. However the opression and executions are endemic in Iran and therefore that upsets me much more. Why? Because it is causing far more people to suffer, that's why.

All else being equal it would upset me more when one of "ours" does something horrible. However when a few of ours do bad things like at Abu Ghraib and in the incident Cyrus posted, that causes nowhere near the level of widespread suffering such as do the oppression of women and dissidents in Iran, and the frequent executions. The differences are vast in numbers and in severity as well.

I can see where the former would upset you more on a "responsibility" basis--but the other must surely upset more on a "humanitarian" basis. To me, the greater humanitarian basis is simply much, much larger in scope, breadth and weight. Since I despise brutal totalitarianism, it follows that I must despise very widespread and severely brutal totalitarianism all the more. And from the point of view of those who are suffering, your argument would be largely besides the point. 100 priests tortured by "them" are suffering a lot more than one priest tortured by "ours" (to flip around a Chomsky parable). So when the weights are so very disparate, I cannot agree with you or Chomsky.