Hi Dick
Dick Fischer wrote:
> Jonathan Clarke wrote:
>
>
>> >There are other free, wealthy, and powerful countries out there who
>> do not suffer terrorist outrages to anything like the same degree.
>> They have to do with a hypocritical and self-serving foreign policy
>> and bully-boy military actions.
>
>
> Spoken like a true outsider. All countries have foreign policies that
> are "self-serving." I would submit that the US has been and will
> continue to be the most benevolent society on the face of the earth.
> No country responds quicker to help any region of the world when a
> catastrophe strikes. We have given money and aid far beyond what any
> other country has done.
>
I am an outsider and proud of it! A ticket to Mars might induce me to
take up US citizen ship however.. :-)
I agree that all countries are self serving in their foreign policy, it
is perhaps more evident with the US, as the US is one of the few
countries that many of its citizens believe it has the right to bomb the
world with impunity.
As to the US's generosity, while true, there are many generous countries
in the world, some may be, per capita, more generous than the US. So it
might be better to let others sing of the US's generosity rather than
praising it yourself. A person who likes to remind other how generous
they are loses friends quickly.
>
> That being said, there is a pervasive sickness we continue to justify
> as "free speech." We say the Moslems belittle and humiliate women.
> They say we exploit them. They wrap them up, we parade their naked
> bodies on the silver screen and Internet. President Bush said,
> "Freedom was attacked today." We were not attacked because of our
> freedom, but because of our permissiveness. We could clean up out own
> act and rid ourselves of what the USA appears to export:
> homosexuality, pornography, etc., but I am afraid such a message is
> drowned out today by the atrocities committed against us.
>
> All of us (Americans) remember the senseless acts of murder committed
> at Columbine High School. How many know there was a two-tiered system
> of justice at that school - a permissive system for "jocks," and a
> more restrictive system for everybody else? When the two young boys
> launched their attack, one was heard to say, "Let's kill all the
> jocks." In essence, they rebelled against an unfair and
> discriminatory system. But their crimes were so heinous the root
> causes have been lost and forgotten.
>
> The same thing could be said about the terrorist attacks. We are so
> caught up in indignation and flag-waving there is no looking inward at
> what we might be doing to provoke these people. I do not think a man
> would "martyr" himself because of our "freedom," but only because he
> believes we are an evil society, and he is serving a righteous cause.
> If we continue to engage in reckless permissiveness and call it
> "freedom" we can continue to expect an unending supply of "martyrs."
>
I agree with all you say, but, as they are internal US problems, I do
not feel it is right for me to criticize them.
>
> Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orisol.com
> "The answer we should have known about 150 years ago"
You may have the last word. I am off to the bush for two weeks.
Jon
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