in order to believe that the world is just. If some victims didn't deserve t heir fate, then that would mean that the world wasn't as a whole fair, and that we are obligated to get off our backsides and try to *do* something about it.

Here's a related post from Hurricane Katrina comparing with the public response to the Kent State Shootings.

And yeah, I try not to let myself get dragged into discussions with my dad, either, but I can't always avoid it/restrain myself.