Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA07297 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 19 Sep 2001 19:57:32 +0100 Message-ID: <000901c14142$8246a780$f8a3bed4@default> From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <JJEIIFOCALCJKOFDFAHBMEIPDHAA.richard@brodietech.com> Subject: Re: Dawkins View Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 21:36:28 +0200 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Brodie <richard@brodietech.com>
> Not Dawkins's best work. His fervent anti-religionism is coloring his
point
> of view. Certainly belief in a paradisiacal afterlife is not necessary for
> suicide commandos. Animals have a built-in mechanism to sacrifice
themselves
> for the good of their kin. All that is necessary is to co-opt that. Even
the
> heroic passengers on UA93, who overpowered the hijackers and apparently
> crashed the plane, were driven by that mechanism.
<< Sorry Richard, I have to comply with Philip on this one.
Their sacrifice was indeed a noble one, but was not conducted for the
good of their kin. Survival and self- preservation were the standards
by which those people reacted in the way they did.
Saving the president ! Come on, Richard, do you really believe that
Americans, some Americans maybe, will risk their own life to save
the president !? And by doing that jeapardize their own survival !?
Maybe I don 't understand to what extend the president is a symbol,
but that is what he is, a symbol. Giving up your life for what appears
to be only an emblem of some kind, well it beats me !!
> > It's just that the US does not seem to pay much attention
> > to the 64,000 dollar question: `WHY?'.
>
> I assure you the Government is well aware of how America's actions are
> perceived by various factions in the Middle East. But remember, these
> barbarians have attacked many other countries. There are some forces that
it
> just doesn't make sense to appease. They must be destroyed.
<< Ok, Richard, if your government knows that why do they keep on
attacking those various factions !? Why did your government attack
Irak, Vietnam, Panama, Cuba !?
Why did they support the Taliban !?
Why do they support South- Korea !?
Why keep poking and interfering with agenda's of other countries !?
Now, some factions hit back and the government don 't even grasp the
meaning of this. No, they will hit back and hard.
Like I said, the bully got a smack on his face by an alliance and now
to get even, to get its revenge, it will attack the most vunerable kid on
the block.
The American government, I don 't say the American people got a
great lack of respect for others, their ideas and their culture.
The government is arrogant and got a delusion of grandeur.
An that delusion is so great, so vast that the government don 't see
what is coming... next.
I don 't get this, America seems to be one of the most violent socie-
ties on earth, everyday, murder, shootings, rape, gangfights,... what-
ever, it seems to me that the American in general had learned to live
with these facts. And in a way must than understand how the principle
of attack, contra- attack and retaliation works and to what it can lead.
And sets this all aside when some factions pay them a visit.
In Europe, IMO, it is the other way round, we don 't " care " any-
more when some factions strike, but when a thief invades our home,
we shoot them, we want to pay it back to him, our inner- self itself
it than abused.
In a sense, Americans are more ' collective ', Europeans more ' indi-
vidualistic '.
Can there be a difference in how Americans and Europeans percieve
violence !?
Regards,
Kenneth
( I am, because we are) different, that 's for sure
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