Some of My Best Friends are War Criminals (Or: Against Niceness)

Wikimedia Commons (Pete Souza [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en)])

There is nothing inherently wrong with being nice: let’s get that out of the way first. There is also something good, indeed obligatory, about engaging in civil, rational discourse, all other things being equal. The latter is sadly in short supply nowadays. But if there’s nothing inherently wrong about niceness, there is nothing inherently right about it either. Practical wisdom…