Bob Weinberger wrote:
"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

It is a strange world that can produce people capable of stating with
conviction that intent doesn't matter.

Wolfgang
who supposes that he will now be informed that no one said any such thing.


I find it stranger still when people place a higher importance on intent
than they do on outcome -

Well, I won't deny that you find it strange, but it's easy to find what
I believe are perfectly reasonable instances of where intent is judged
more important than outcome. What comes first to mind is the law. The
dimwit who writes a holdup note on one of his own deposit slips, only
to have the bank teller spit in his eye and tell him to hit the road,
may be the object of much amusement for those of us who read about it
after the fact (and justifiably so) but the courts take a different
view of this sort of thing (with equal justification, I think). As
well, intent to commit vehicular homicide or any other sort of illegal
mayhem, demonstrated by a legitimate attempt, is reason enough to
prosecute (and convict if the evidence convinces a jury) regardless of
outcome.

I trust you'll agree that both of these (which, while presented
hypothetically, are modelled on many real life situations) constitute
situations in which intent IS in fact more important, at least in some
respects, than outcome and that good examples from other areas of the
human experience wouldn't be all that hard to come up with.

though I'm not saying that that is what you did in
this case.

Nor would I......ever......without qualification.

Wolfgang