On freedom

[Undertoad]

In comments on TV right now from Secy of Defense Rumsfeld, and this short piece by Eric S. Raymond, people GET IT. If we compromise freedom as a response to terrorism, the terrorists get what they want.

[tw]

Originally posted by Undertoad
... this short piece by Eric S. Raymond[/url], people GET IT. If we compromise freedom as a response to terrorism, the terrorists get what they want.

If we reward in any way the Palestinians who are now celebrating this hideous crime in the streets of the West Bank, that wil have been a victory for terrorism.

I keep making the point about using emotion rather than logic. Above is another example of that emotion. Ask yourself why a people that once looked to America for their salvation would cheer the collapse of a building. Who did we protect and support? The extremist and genocidal masochist Ariel Sharon at the expense of the Palestinians and moderate Israelis.

Eric S Raymond has implied Palestinians are the enemy. Instead they are mostly the moderate flock that extermists recruit from. If we use emotion; if we support an extremist who engineered the massacre of Palestinian women and children in Lebanon; if we support a man who flaunts the rule of law to deny human right; then we convert intelligent Palestinians into terrorist extremists.

Had Rabin lived, it is less likely that a building would have collapsed in Lower Manhatten. However as long as Eric S Raymond posts such remarks without viewing the overall picture (in dry, unemotional context and with a long term perspective), then extremists have more instability to profit and recruit from.

bin Laden is not the Palestinians just as extremist right wing Jews are not the majority of Israel. But as long as an extremist, anti-humanity, minority has American support, then we can only expect Palestinians to cheer, then we can only expect the moderate Arafat to lose support, and then we can only expect more Arabs from all Arab nations to flock to bin Laden and others like him.

Define your stategic objective - how to view current events:

Extremists are driven by their emotions; not by logical thought. That defines a person of low intelligence. But an extremist movement becomes dangerous when it can recruit moderates - where most intelligent people reside. How does an extremist recruit moderates? Create instability.... to make a moderate's position untenable.

My friends come from all nations - including gays, blacks, orientals, hispanics, ... and Arabs. My perspective is international as are my news sources (which is why I point to Ch 6 Actions News as nothing more than gossip) - as Cellar dwellers for the past 10+ years will recognize. I stand upon those credentials when I repeat the above continued warning about being emotional. It is that dry, sometimes unpopular, long term viewpoint that will keep citing the emotional and the racist among us in a time of great instability.

[tw]

As I post this, the Israeli ambassador is blaming the attack on an unnamed nation. bin Laden's organization could easily have financed this operation without any nation support. But again, the current Israeli government is led by extremists. Get the US to blame a nation and extremists have created more instability. Carefully examine what extremists will say. That also includes the Palestinian enemies of Yasser Arafat and the PLO. Extremists will profit from the instability created by your emotions. Seek the long term objectives in every comment. The whole world as well as US international relations will be at risk if the US declares war on a nation. Instability is currently rampant. Extremists will profit if we don't take care to doubt - the doubt again.

BTW it is phenomenal how ABC and CBS News are reporting this whereas NBC and Fox are too quick to jump on rumors. Watch how the news reporters outrightly doubt White House rumors that Air Force 1 was a target. Suspect outright - or create instability.

[verbatim]

tw, you might find this interesting. its apparently from a canadian newspaper, but i got it from hardocp.com



A TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES
This, was re-printed in a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing. America: The Good Neighbor.

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television Commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.

None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10?

If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy,
and you find men on the moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."

Stand proud, America! Wear it proudly!!

[lisa]

I didn't know where else to post this, so I'll post it here. It's kinda bad, but I couldn't help but laugh...

Someone at work handed me a piece of paper today with one thing written on it:

rm -rf /bin/laden

[elSicomoro]

My fiance posted that on my mailing lists today...I liked it.

Granted, the United States is by no means a perfect country. And granted, we tend to nose our way into other countries' problems while taking care of our own problems internally. We get pissy mad, take our toys, and go home (as we did at the racism conference). But over the course of the past 225 years, the United States has contributed to the betterment of world society in ways that cannot be imagined...and cannot be denied. Seeing those pics that Tony posted of people in other countries today really gave me a sense of optimism. From those pictures, I derived a few thoughts:

1--Many people in this world are obviously saddened by the loss of human life, no matter where it may be.

2--For many folks, it was probably shocking that it happened here in the United States. It has been 6 years since Oklahoma City, and before that, it had been over 50 years since Pearl Harbor.

3 (and this one is my little flame of hope)--Perhaps it will help to soften the attitudes of non-Americans towards us in some way, shape, or form. Perhaps it will help the US to change its own perspective. An attack on a city--a city that is probably the most important city in the world--that showed not only our vulnerability, but our emotion.

[Hubris Boy]

Originally posted by lisa
Someone at work handed me a piece of paper today with one thing written on it:

rm -rf /bin/laden

Yes. And this warning to the Taliban:

find / -name '*your_base*' -exec chown us.us {} \;