Re: MD Heroes, ethnocentrism, Qualtiy, and War

From: bahna@rpi.edu
Date: Sat Mar 15 2003 - 17:13:53 GMT

  • Next message: Elizaphanian: "Re: MD Life after death?"

    Hi Platt:
     
    To my: In the anti-war protest in the US and around the world.

    You ask: Since when are the protests against the dictator Saddam, an
    unelected leader possessing not only guns but weapons of mass murder he has

    used on his own people?

    I answer: I think the protests around the world are aimed directly at the
    US and its aggressive military policy, its production of weapons of mass
    destruction, and its dismissal of world opinions, treaties and
    organizations. The US helped Saddam (as they did Bin Laden) obtain and use
    weapons of mass destruction. This is an undisputed fact. The antiwar
    protests do not support Saddam, they just ask for the inspections to be
    allowed to work.

    You also asked: Please specify which European countries have better
    constitutional protections and identify such protections. Also, how was the
    U.S. Constitution better 6 months ago? In your dreams, what provisions
    would you add to our constitution to make it better?

    Andy: Well, I don't want to pretend I know a lot about the constitutions
    of all European countries. I don't. But, I would guess the UK,
    Netherlands, Sweden, France and Germany all have better protections. I am
    not knowledgable enough to identify these protections, I am only going by
    my experience in these countries, newspaper articles and conversations
    which have given me a general feel. So, I admit I could be wrong.

    To the second part of your question, I think I have to ask, when was the
    patriot act signed? This is certainly a restricition on individual rights.
    This was probably signed over 6 months ago, so lets say since 9/11 2001.
    Ask any arab American how the US was a land of greater freedom before this
    date. So to begin with we could get rid of the patriot act, at least those
    parts which allow infringement on are privacies. For instance, the right
    of the FBI to subpeona library records and bookstores for the thooughts we
    are reading.
     
    Finally You asked: Which of the following wars would you not have fought?

    American Revolution
    Civil War
    World War II against Germany
    World War II against Japan
    Korean War
    Gulf War

    I replied: This is the wrong question. The question I would ask is what
    can
    we learn from the experience of each of these wars to avoid the needless
    loss of life in the future. There were certainly many mistakes in each
    of
    these wars which we could avoid in the future.

    You continue: Mistakes? Like what. Not fighting those wars? Why do avoid
    the
    question?

    Platt

    Andy: I learned to avoid questions from the Master himself. It is a trick
    you have become very adept at. I think it was very skillfully done, don't
    you think? Seriously, I don't know the answer to your question. I do
    believe in peace, but there are some situations I can imagine that would be
    worth dying for. I was only alive during the last war in your list and I
    was on the streets protesting against that. So I can say I would not have
    fought the first gulf war, although I would have pursued every other means
    available to get Saddam to leave Kuwait. Mistakes? Well, Hiroshima is an
    obvious one. WW II with Germany might have been avoided if the peace from
    the Great war was negotiated differently. The Civil War did not make the
    lives of Blacks much better immediately as pointed out by Squank. I can't
    see much that was gained in the Korean war. And the American Revolution,
    although it led to our constitution and bill of rights, which I support, we
    still had a government that spent the next 125 years or so killing native
    Americans "like bugs" and that also supported slavery, in addition to
    excluding women. So, I am not sure where I would have stood on the
    position of war in any of the cases you present (other than the gulf war)
    if I was alive at the time. I would like to think I would have been part
    of an anti-war effort in any, though.

    Andy

    MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
    Mail Archives:
    Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
    Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
    MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net

    To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
    http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Mar 15 2003 - 17:14:22 GMT