"Wer mit Ungeheurn kampft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Arbgrund auch in dich hinein...."
-Whoever struggles with monsters might watch that he does not thereby become a monster. When you stare into the abyss for a long time, the abyss also stares at you.
NIETZSCHE, Friedrich Wilhelm (1844-1900)
Clash of Cultures.......Evil Cartoons.....Demonising people of another culture and viewpoint. We are in danger of losing the very reason that we cherish the society we live in. Open debate and opposing points of view are the fabric of the culture we live in...............
No it isn't .....but having diminishing freedom if you're a certain colour, creed or religion makes the sacrifice pretty empty. Stop and search........90 days incarceration without charge....prison camps and torture flights to countries willing to do our dirty work in dark places............ mounting paranoia.....
Protecting our society is important, but what costs are we incurring when protecting freedom results in the curtailment of the things we profess to be so willing to sacrifice our sons, brothers, sisters, and fathers for?........ I'm afraid.......... we are in trouble.
I will let wiser people than myself speak on this:
"Souvent la peur d'un mal nous conduit dans un pire"- The fear of one evil often leads us into a greater one- Boileau-Despeaux, Nicolas (1636-1711)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" -BURKE, Edmund (1729-1797)
"Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter" - GOLDSMITH, Oliver (1728-1774)
"Familiarity with evil, breeds not contempt but acceptance" - HATTERSLEY, Roy (1932-)
Honi soit qui mal y pense - Evil be to him who evil thinks (Motto of the Order of the Garter)-Anomymous
911 was evil......the July bombings in London were evil........so is all of the other crap going on in your name and my name ....where is it going to end ?
Sorry, but there is a terrible mission creep in the whole "making the world safe against the terrorists" thing at the moment....alienation of our own citizens, etc etc.......Does anyone have anything to say about this?
1 comment:
The question you ask is so critical but it seems like so many of us are afraid of looking at this whole mess with any real honesty or depth. No, the war in Iraq did not start these terrorist attacks, but I can't help but think that our completely naive and blood-thirsty response has made the situation much much worse and put is on a more dangerous and bloodier path than we were on.
Many of us, in the US, in particular, allowed 911 and the fear of terrorism to cloud our judgment, leaving us afraid to ask the tough questions. Now people are very willing to say we shouldn't be in Iraq because there were no WMDs. But these same people pretty easily swallowed what was clearly a line of garbage in the first place. The reasoning, in my opinion, that was offered for waging war on Saddam were paper thin to begin with. But even if you thought, "gee maybe there are some WMDs?", the question you ask--where is this all going--was virtually ignored. I mean, really--who in their right mind actually believed that the Iraqi people would throw flowers at our feet upon arrival? Who in their right mind actually believed that we could be in and out in only a few months? Such a thing never happened in all of history, why would it suddenly be different in the 21st century, particularly when it was already clear that the populations of more benign countries such as Jordan are not so thrilled with American activities in the region? A truly vigorous and free press (one not beholden to secret sources and corporate parent companies) should have been able to poke holes the size of the Holland Tunnel through these arguments. But somehow, the fear of the crazy Arab Muslim terrorists coming after us again and, perhaps, the fear of being labeled unpatriotic, seemed to castrate everyone. And it continues as we all eat up rationalizations for Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and 18 year-olds being brought home without limbs or in caskets. Where is it all going? To hell in a handbasket, in my opinion.
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