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silversoul7
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Sanity check
#2480626 - 03/29/04 04:12 PM (20 years, 3 days ago) |
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My dad sent me a copy of his letter to the editor that he got published in the newspaper. Thought you might like it:
Some years ago, I read of a simple sanity test in which the subject is confronted with an overflowing sink. The subject's sanity is judged by whether he or she reaches first for a mop or the faucet.
It should be obvious to any sane person that terrorism will not be stopped by "mopping up" the few thousand most dangerous terrorists at large. It will be stopped only by stemming the seemingly endless flow of new volunteers who step forward to replace their fallen or captured comrades.
Until the United States can address the simple fact that half of the people on the planet don't like us, we can never feel safe again.
I see no indication that either our current president or any of those who surround him has grasped this simple concept.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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Anonymous
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Re: Sanity check *DELETED* [Re: silversoul7]
#2480631 - 03/29/04 04:13 PM (20 years, 3 days ago) |
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silversoul7
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Re: Sanity check [Re: ]
#2480634 - 03/29/04 04:14 PM (20 years, 3 days ago) |
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I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than that.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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HagbardCeline
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How should we modify our policies and society so that these people no longer see the need to try and kill us?
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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Evolving
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A non-interventionist foreign policy would be a good start (and would also help to unburden the American tax payers). Stop foreign aide which is used by entrenched governments to bolster their power at the expense of the American tax payers. Stop underwriting loans which benefit large banking concerns and entrenched governments at the expense of the American tax payers. Have U.S. troops protect our borders instead of being spread out all over the globe while millions come illegally into our country to suckle on the teats of the welfare state.
-------------------- To call humans 'rational beings' does injustice to the term, 'rational.' Humans are capable of rational thought, but it is not their essence. Humans are animals, beasts with complex brains. Humans, more often than not, utilize their cerebrum to rationalize what their primal instincts, their preconceived notions, and their emotional desires have presented as goals - humans are rationalizing beings.
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Anonymous
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HagbardCeline
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Re: Sanity check [Re: Evolving]
#2480798 - 03/29/04 05:05 PM (20 years, 3 days ago) |
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Quote:
Stop foreign aide which is used by entrenched governments to bolster their power at the expense of the American tax payers.
That would certainly cause many in the world to be angry with us.
Quote:
Stop underwriting loans which benefit large banking concerns and entrenched governments at the expense of the American tax payers.
More anger.
Quote:
Have U.S. troops protect our borders instead of being spread out all over the globe while millions come illegally into our country to suckle on the teats of the welfare state.
Even more.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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silversoul7
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Well, for one thing, there's Israel. We wouldn't even necessarily have to stop giving foreign aid to them. We'd just have to stop giving it unconditionally. If we told Israel that we wouldn't give them any more aid unless they withdrew from the occupied territories, I bet they'd be a more compliant.
Then there's Saudi Arabia. Our military presence there, in the Muslim Holy Land, is seen as a slap in the face by many Muslims. Also, our close relationship with their widely hated royal family isn't helping much either.
Also, we've got to stop going into all these conflicts unilaterally. It'd be nice if we could just stay out of that region altogether, but if we insist on invading a sovereign nation, we should first seek the approval and cooperation of the UN and/or NATO, so as to give it a sense of legitimacy in the eyes of the world. If we show contempt for world opinion, it will reciprocate those feelings back, sometimes with dangerous consequences.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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silversoul7
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Re: Sanity check [Re: ]
#2480820 - 03/29/04 05:09 PM (20 years, 3 days ago) |
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Nice to see you again, TOYK. Did you have a nice vacation from these boards?
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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Evolving
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It's my understanding that many who are oppressed by their own governments look upon the U.S. as aiding and abetting their oppressors. It is NOT the responsibility of the U.S. taxpayer to prop up foreign governments. It is not the responsibility of the U.S. taxpayer to underwrite loans for international bankers which again, prop up foreign governments which oppress their own people AND pursue bad economic policies which impoverish their own people.
-------------------- To call humans 'rational beings' does injustice to the term, 'rational.' Humans are capable of rational thought, but it is not their essence. Humans are animals, beasts with complex brains. Humans, more often than not, utilize their cerebrum to rationalize what their primal instincts, their preconceived notions, and their emotional desires have presented as goals - humans are rationalizing beings.
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zappaisgod
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This is crushingly stupid. confronted with an overflowing sink you always stop the influx of water and then you open the drain so all the shit will be removed. Stopping the inflow is easy, opening the drain is usually harder
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silversoul7
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Did any part of my post exclude the possibility of "opening the drain," whatever its metaphorical equivalent might be? This thread is simply addressing the first step.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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Anonymous
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silversoul7
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Re: Sanity check [Re: ]
#2480873 - 03/29/04 05:28 PM (20 years, 3 days ago) |
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Quote:
HashMaster said: George W Bush - Aw, darnit, lets just blow up the whole damn sink!
I think he'd refer to it as "liberating" the sink.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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zappaisgod
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Re: Sanity check [Re: Evolving]
#2480874 - 03/29/04 05:28 PM (20 years, 3 days ago) |
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If 1 American buys a fucking Big Mac in France all of America becomes cultural assassins. Forget the fact that the mac D is owned by Frenchmen and patronized by Frenchmen. It is there because the French people want it. If they didn't it wouldn't be there. That farmer is a retard
If you don't think this is relevant to this thread, you are stupid.
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HagbardCeline
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Quote:
Also, we've got to stop going into all these conflicts unilaterally.
All these?
As far as claiming this was unilateral, I find difficult to understand. We had the support of several nations, but if you want to claim that the coalition itself was unilateral then every action I think of must be defined that way because there is always an opposing party.
And with the exception of staying out of the region entirely, then everything else you said with has merit, but I would tend to agree with Evolving even more. NO foreign aid. Though I suspect stopping Israel's money would likely result in us being far less safe.
But even if we did everything you suggested, these people would continue to exist. Even had we never have done any of these, if our society was still like this, I think we would still face the same problems though the scale or timefrain may have been different.
Evolving - To clarify, I agree with you, but I don't think it would by consequence make us safer.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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silversoul7
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I'm not worried about the French hating America. They're harmless. It's the guys who are willing to blow themselves up in the name of fighting America that I'm worried about.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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zappaisgod
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As a homily, it should have mentioned opening the drain. This is the danger of simplistic, and inappropriate, metaphors. Idiots overapply them.
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silversoul7
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Does it matter whether they go for the drain or the mop first? Either one would seem to indicate insanity. To use a more familiar metaphor, fighting terrorism without addressing its causes is putting the cart before the horse. Better? BTW, are you insinuating that my dad is an idiot?
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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HagbardCeline
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And if it is the very decadence of our society that these people want destroyed, would you support legislation forcing us to conform to strict moral guidlines?
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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