[MacDV] Re: #s 2112, 2113, 2114

[Steven Rogers]

On Saturday, April 19, 2003, at 07:26  AM, RRSounds at aol.com wrote:

> But here in America, "you're only as good as your last hit record." So 
> France is the bad guy du jour.

France is receiving earned scorn for its amoral approach to arms 
dealing, and the lengths its willing to go to in order to keep the 
money flowing. Everyone knows the history, but there is a limit to the 
amount of treachery that can be given a pass for friendship in the past.

> What Goering said is an ironic warning that could at least be 
> considered by fair-minded individuals, even if it should (hopefully) 
> turn out to be false in our present case.

The irony is in what this quote reveals about the left and the 
peace-nicks, and who their philosophical allies are. They all look at 
human beings as fodder - thoughtless automatons that can be led to do 
anything. Widespread support for the war among the common folk (not 
university professors or hollywood stars) just shows that the masses 
must be deluded by the person who sits in the White House.

Nobody who understands the philosophical grounding of rights in human  
free will and rational capacity would ever endorse the idea that an 
entire population could be fooled by a leader. The German leadership 
(just like today's left) thought that people follow because the 
population is mindless sheep when in fact, the following is based on 
ideology that was rooted in philosophy from years before. In Germany's 
case (and America's left), it was Kant and Hegel. In the case of 
Islamic terrorism, the philosopher is an Egyptian theologian named 
Qutb. He's reviewed in this NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/magazine/23GURU.html

> Personally, I think that belligerent threats, intimidation, violence 
> and War are perverse, antiquated ways to deal with problems between 
> disagreeing societies (no matter whose 'side' one is on), an approach 
> that is better suited to insects than humans, and that if all the 
> money, effort and lives devoted to battle were instead spent on 
> enforced promotion of goodwill (which is not an oxymoron) and free 
> discussion of how to alleviate tensions through discourse, the world 
> would be a better place.

This is "mindless automaton" view of humanity put into practice. Not 
only does the left think that the average person can be swayed to any 
view - they also think that the Hitlers and Saddams of the world can be 
turned into upright citizens by simply talking to them. The people who 
advocate this are not naive or silly, they are applying the 
anti-individual philosophy they learned in college. If you've ever 
wondered why the left supports laws that treat you as if you were 
stupid, thinks everyone follows the person in the White House like a 
sheep, and thinks a dictator can be talked into peace - look at their 
philosophical view of humanity for the answer.

When put into practice, pacifist ideology simply immobilizes the good 
and allows evil to run rampant *until it decides it it done*.
If force is a bad way to solve problems, perhaps when the war is over 
these people can protest the use of force and intimidation every time 
the police go to the scene of a domestic disturbance where a wife or 
child is being beaten. I hope they continue to keep a high profile so 
everyone will be reminded of the consequences of putting their ideology 
into practice. The hole in Manhattan doesn't seem to be a big enough 
monument to pacifism.

SR