01-29-2011, 08:45 PM
To take another tack against that line of argument, Leo, I'd argue that that particular string of actions, which you have isolated into two separate karma-relevant objects, would be better understood as one individual object.
Suppose a village is being assaulted by bandits, and you jump into the fray. You first kill a bandit. Following the death of that bandit, you kill a villager, then another bandit, then two more villagers. The karmic evaluation of your actions here are not isolated with particular values given to each death, with +2 karma given to your initial kill (that of the bandit), and -2 given for the following death of the villager. Rather, the action is taken as a whole. As a whole, it is clearly evil.
Yes, there's subjectivity here, and yes, I'm certain you can construct some example that points at a seam in this particular system, but that example will necessarily be contrived and ridiculous, and even if it had to be overcome, it could easily be accounted for by a reasonably intelligent Staff member who applies the karma system with leeway-room.
Suppose a village is being assaulted by bandits, and you jump into the fray. You first kill a bandit. Following the death of that bandit, you kill a villager, then another bandit, then two more villagers. The karmic evaluation of your actions here are not isolated with particular values given to each death, with +2 karma given to your initial kill (that of the bandit), and -2 given for the following death of the villager. Rather, the action is taken as a whole. As a whole, it is clearly evil.
Yes, there's subjectivity here, and yes, I'm certain you can construct some example that points at a seam in this particular system, but that example will necessarily be contrived and ridiculous, and even if it had to be overcome, it could easily be accounted for by a reasonably intelligent Staff member who applies the karma system with leeway-room.