From: Jeremy Bradley (jeremyb@nor.com.au)
Date: Sat 09 Nov 2002 - 05:21:15 GMT
At 10:31 PM 8/11/02 -0600, you wrote:
>> Snip.........
>> >>When I say the means we use shape the ends we
>> >> get, that's what I mean. The means we used to fight Russia in
>> >> Afghanistan led to the Taliban taking control. It led to the
>> >> creation of Al Quaeda (the list of reliable agents who were trained
>> >> and proved their worth in Afghanistan) We are taking the expedient
>> >> route to solve a problem that is much deeper and will last much
>> >> longer than the means we are using will solve.
>>
>> Hi peace lovers
>> There is a great kid's song that carries a memetic warning of this
>> action - over-reaction tendency in some human cultures; it is called
>> 'There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly'. Do you know it? On the
>> surface it is a silly song, but the meme is solid and stable. Each
>> time she takes a more drastic remedy until she dies - not of the
>> complaint but the cures. (last chorus of long song) She swallowed a
>> horse to catch the cow She swallowed the cow to chase the dog (what a
>> hog, she swallowed a dog) She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
>> (imagine that, she swallowed a cat) She swallowed the cat to catch
>> the bird - and so on through the spider and the fly This is a straight
>> out pedagogical ditty - with observable and quantifiable memes. Who
>> was it who said that if we refuse the lessons of history, we are
>> destined to repeat them, (or something like that)? Peace be with you
>> Jeremy
>>
>And in this case, to not cure the disease will be to suffer greatly from it,
>and to abandon the Iraqi people to suffer. But it isn't PC liberal to
>liberate them, or even to notice that they exist except as anstract lives
>that have to be preserved from the spectre of 'collateral damage', not
>oppressed human serfs quietly yearning for freedom (because to do so
>out loud earns a bullet - after the torture); it certainly ain't cool to
notice
>that they are terrorized and enslaved. Their lives do not rest in peace;
>they are quietly desperate by dual necessity.
>>
Steady Joe
I was not being specific here. BTW the jury is still out on much of what
you present as fact. AND there are worse things happening in countries
which have no oil but are 'friendly to the West' - what about them? AND
other countries sponsor terrorism AND have WMDs. All that I was commenting
on was the repetition of history and the way that we won't know if we are
being hoodwinked until it's too late.
There is a lot of biased media around - well all of it really - but if you
want to get a reasonable picture of what's going on, shop around.
There are online English news services in most countries. As they are all
partisan, if you take a reasoned, neutral overview you will be close to
the 'truth' of events.
Stay cool buddy, we live in interesting times.
Jeremy
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