I stayed out of this because my first reaction upon reading Eric's hypothetical was the thought that he must be mad and I didn't want to start a post with that kind of question. A few points.
1. Western culture - any culture for that matter - isn't made up of a collection of positive attributes without the accompaniment of negative ones. From my subjective viewpoint, western culture also takes in various crimes that are endemic, it includes drug culture, it includes 'hip hop' culture, it includes gang culture (assuming the last two can be separated), and most likely a few other 'cultures' that, for me, are the downsides of a 'free society' and yet are also the product of it. Would anyone want to commit genocide to save them?
2. Again from my standpoint, society produces opinions and attitudes. Society creates ideas and responses. As such, what Eric is asking is itself a product of the society/culture in which he lives; would you commit genocide to save a culture that has produced the impulse to commit genocide? Would you belong to a club that would have you as a member?
3. Eric, think of yourself as the bear in the orchard. You sit in this manmade environment filled with regimented lines of trees and you yearn for the wildness and randomness of natural woodland. You watch an armed human approach and you think why can't we just get rid of that species, they've ruined the woods, they're threatening my existence. Knowing that the bear is thinking this, would you organise a mass hunt of bears and put an end to their species instead?
Simon
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