| andersonalex said: Someone needs to do something very severe with Iran very soon. In Iran we have a nation that is led by people who actively support terrorists. Their leadership has stated in no uncertain terms that they want Israel destroyed, and it's obvious from the terrorists that they've helped train and fund that the United States is no less a target. It's politically unpopular right now in the United States to support any military action against any country. But let's get something straight. Politically unpopular doesn't mean wrong. All it means is that our hands are tied. It may be that Iran has to hand a nuclear weapon to a terrorist before the citizens of the United States let their government act again. It's pleasant to think that if we're just nice to everyone, they'll be nice to us. Young adults feel intellectually superior because they hold this belief and scorn anyone who doesn't share it. But that doesn't work if you have cultures that teach a completely different value system - one where anyone with a different religious belief must be killed, and doing so will earn you eternal salvation. You can't beat this by being nice. You simply have to do whatever it takes to prevent people with that sort of mentality from achieving the means to kill people. But I don't think our culture will be willing to take the necessary steps until a huge disaster comes along. Lessons from the 40's are lost, and we've forgotten what sick people in charge of countries can do. Now we're willing to risk letting it happen again, this time with much bigger weapons. |
With isolation and alienation do extremists gain their power. The rise of the Ultra-nationalists on the other side that did so much damage was due to the isolation that all countries experienced during the Great Depression. In countries more susceptible to extremism, these ideals took root more strongly because the people had no outside voices to gainsay them. Intimate contact with other peoples: diplomacy and trade, these are the things that defeat extremism more thoroughly than weaponry
Take Cuba for instance. It is the sole fault of the United States of America that Castro and the Communists have lasted as long as they have. You see, the embargo was the best gift that regime could have been given: a constant source of adversity, adversity that gives credence to the regime's message that America is out to get them, and adversity that keeps the people struggling against poverty
In no way am i saying that we should tolerate the bad things, of course. The views of the extremists should be actively discouraged as staunchly as possible, but one must take into account that methods used against the extremists have the tendency to reinforce their positions. If we blow up an Iranian hospital in the course of trying to stop them from acquiring a nuclear weapon (like the aspirin factory we blew up in Sudan when we're looking for bin Laden) is just going to reinforce the position that America is bad and the extremists are good
Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.
