Middle East erupts

[DanaC]

For generations, Dana, we've been the target of every foreign idiot with a bomb and a grudge, and a few native-born idiots too (but that's a side issue), and I say we have suffered too long and too much at the hands of destructive, anti-human fools.

Um....what? You've had a handful of terrorist attacks on your country. One of them was absoluetly horrific, most of them were smallfry compared to what practically every other country in the world experiences on a semi-regular basis.

[DanaC]

Reading UG´s above diatribe almost made me think he´s just ironic and making a caricature of the Ugly American, but then I realised he´s dead serious...

Sometimes I just look at the screen and my jaw drops. I just don't know where to start. I really don't:P

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Sometimes I just look at the screen and my jaw drops. I just don't know where to start. I really don't:P

At the bottom of the screen is a dropdown menu that says "forum jump".

[DanaC]

Tell me: are we in any way obliged to have petroleum resources hostage to unfriendlies?

Their resources.

[DanaC]

Then we do the Marshall Plan thing and rebuild them more in our image, whereupon they succeed in a fashion previously undreamable

Oh right. I can see how well that's working in Iraq.

[DanaC]

At the bottom of the screen is a dropdown menu that says "forum jump".

....I know. I know, I really should.....but...it's utterly compelling. LIke when you are sitting in a bus station and the guy who's been muttering to himself and picking up tin cans, sits down right next to you and says with conviction: "I wouldn't. She never did." (yes that has happened to me:P)

You know you should just leave him to it, but something compels you to enquire.....to delve into his particular brand of madness. Sometimes, that leads to some interesting snippets; other times it all just unravels and leaves you staring horrified into someone else's abyss.

[footfootfoot]

Hmmm. The train wreck.

I know.

[Ibby]

Originally Posted by DanaC

The conflicts tw has referred to are not conflicts to decide between the free and the unfree, they are conflicts primarily based on land disputes and historic enmities. It is entirely possible for an 'unfree' people to have a genuine grievance against a 'free' people. The fact that a nation is democratised, does not automatically mean that it is always in the right. But then that's the great thing about democracies.....different opinions are welcomed and debates ensue.

Thank you so much. I've been trying to figure out how to say that for a while. A democratic nation of psycopaths would be much worse off than a nation led by a benevolent dictator, would it not? It's not the form of government that matters, its what the government does. Being a democracy does not make you right, and being a dictatorship or oligarchy or monarchy or tyranny does not make you wrong.

[Aliantha]

Even being a communist doesn't make you wrong...

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Even being a communist doesn't make you wrong...

Depends on what the topic under discussion is.

And the problem with "benevolent dictators" is so few of them can stay benevolent for long enough. That kind of power distorts the mind utterly.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Depends on what the topic under discussion is.

And the problem with "benevolent dictators" is so few of them can stay benevolent for long enough. That kind of power distorts the mind utterly.

So why is everyone trying so hard to make one in this country?

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by richlevy

So why is everyone trying so hard to make one in this country?

Because the problem with being a liberal lately is after a while you start to beleive your own hyperbole. I still don't think it's a winning strategy.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Depends on what the topic under discussion is.

And the problem with "benevolent dictators" is so few of them can stay benevolent for long enough. That kind of power distorts the mind utterly.

One doesn't have to be a benevolent dictator to be a communist. A communist isn't a leader. A communist is a person who works for the good of the whole society. A benevolent dictator is not a communist. A benevolent dictator is a benevolent dictator.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

One doesn't have to be a benevolent dictator to be a communist.

Did somebody say that?

Originally Posted by Aliantha

A communist is a person who works for the good of the whole society.

That's certainly debatable.

[DanaC]

A democratic nation of psycopaths would be much worse off than a nation led by a benevolent dictator, would it not? It's not the form of government that matters, its what the government does. Being a democracy does not make you right, and being a dictatorship or oligarchy or monarchy or tyranny does not make you wrong.

A succinct and well-argued point.