Quote:
Originally posted by Tobiasly
So you see, "murder" isn't a good choice of words here. Perhaps "manslaughter":
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When we talk about man, we are talking about man and woman. Some words take on such dual meanings. Murder comes in three degrees. Manslaughter is murder in the third degree. Murder in the 1st degree is murder. Forgot what murder in the second degree is.
However Tobias' point is accurate and (hopefully) does clarify any confusion.
I don't remember if it was Feynman's book that notes a Challenger type accident almost happened exactly one year earlier. Engineers cited this previous near miss and an exact same launch condition during Challenger. But top management was so negligent as to not let any engineers even participate in a vote to launch. Management that ignores a 100% recommendation - by everyone who knows technology - not to launch should be held accountable to manslaughter charges. Management than then participates in a coverup should have been charged additionally. We didn't do that either.
We did learn of thousands of other potential failures of which, if I remember, 200 required repair before the shuttle flew again. On that list were most every problem cited to me by fellow engineers about 1 years before Challenger exploded. The problems were so well known that even engineers not working on the Shuttle program knew of them. And yet we kept launching without any effort even to get those problems solved. Management failure which is why management should have been held accountable for those completely unnecessary deaths. It was not an accident. It was blatant negligence that resulted in seven deaths. Was that in the documentary?
Returning to the original point, one should not condem a whole people only because some or even many are in error or have a different interpretation of same facts. Just because some Americans intentionally sent seven astronauts to what became their death does not make all Aemricans murders (manslaughters). Just because one Arab wife, in grief, blames government for murdering her husband does not make all Arabs evil or anti-American.
However, those who would routinely merge 'She' with 'They' can easily meet the definition of racist. Such has been reason to inspire street riots. Just because Atta's father is in denial, or Egypitians mistrust the government's translation on Egypt Air 990, or the man's wife is distraught does not make all Arabs murders or evil. It is dangerous to blame all for the opinions or actions of just a few.