The unfortunate truth is that pragmatism sometimes requires choosing between suboptimal options, simply because the long term ramifications of the other options are far worse - even if those other options have better short term outcomes.
It’s all well and good if we can stand on principle and stop the genocide right now… but if the long term ramification is that the genocide starts up again in 3 months with a vengeance, it’s pretty clear that that strategy isn’t the best one. It’s a horrifying thing to have to wrap one’s head around… But it’s basically the trolley problem, writ large.
That’s really all I’m saying.
The unfortunate truth is that pragmatism sometimes requires choosing between suboptimal options, simply because the long term ramifications of the other options are far worse - even if those other options have better short term outcomes.
It’s all well and good if we can stand on principle and stop the genocide right now… but if the long term ramification is that the genocide starts up again in 3 months with a vengeance, it’s pretty clear that that strategy isn’t the best one. It’s a horrifying thing to have to wrap one’s head around… But it’s basically the trolley problem, writ large.